Doomed by Fate
by theanimelover701
Summary: When Nathalia Lilac Ladeia falls ill to an unknown sickness that threatens to take her life, she makes a deal that she ends up regretting more than ever. After her sister, Arystillia Rose Ladeia, was turned into crystal, Nathalia searches for a way to free her but things don't go as she planned. CaiusxOC, HopexOC, NoelxSerah, SnowxSerah. Main story but becomes AU halfway through.
1. Prologue: The Two Sisters Destiny

_Two weeks ago, my younger sister, Nathalia Lilac Ladeia, fell ill to an unkown sickness. My mother, the Leader of our tribe, got in as much contact as she could with some of the world's greatest doctors but still none of them knew of a cure. Now, she lays in bed, unconcious to the world, the sickness getting the best of her._

"Listen carefully," the voice spoke "Once you accept your fate, there will be no turning back. This sickness you bare does not have a cure. The only way you can live on in life is to become bounded to the Chaos of Valhalla. Once you are bounded, there will be changes in your life. The Chaos will become your ally, but you will be cursed with immortality. You will outlive your family and your loved ones. You will live to see many deaths, is this what you want?"

"If its the only way to live on in life, then I will accept this offer." Nathalia spoke with confidence. _It was just like that, _Nathalia thought,_ Everything was changed afterwards..._

"Nathalia? Are you feeling any better?" a voice spoke in a gentle tone. Nathalia opened one of her icy blue eyes and saw her sister's amethyst eyes filled with concern.

"Yea, a lot better actually." Nathalia spoke softly. She sat up from her bed, her deep ocean blue hair falling behind her back. _Was it all just a dream? Or was it real? _Nathalia thought.

"Oh thank the goddess Etro." her sister said, hugging Nathalia closely.

"Hey, Arystillia? You're going to think I'm crazy for saying this but while I was asleep, it felt like I made some kind of foolish deal to become immortal with a man clad in black with purple hair. He said it was the only way to be cured from the sickness..." Nathalia spoke, worried that her sister might have thought she went crazy due to the sickness.

"You were probably hallucinating or dreaming it. Who knew what that sickness had to offer?" Arystillia said trying to reassure Nathalia.

"You're probably right." Nathalia gently spoke, resting herself in her sister's warmth. Arystillia let Nathalia go and got up from the bed.

"I should let mom know that you woke up." Arystilla said, smiling faintly before turning around and left. Each step she took, her navy blue hair swayed. _The Chaos will become your ally, but you will be cursed with immortality, _Nathalia remembered those lines and they meant a lot to her, _What if this was all real? _Arystillia came back after a few minutes and sat on Nathalia's bed again.

"Mom said that if you're up to it, there has been monsters spotted outside the tribe and she wants to know if we can go and put an end to it." Arystillia stated.

"I guess so. If they are really bugging our tribe then I would like to stop them once and for all." Nathalia said smiling.

"Then you should get plenty of rest tonight, we'll leave at dawn." the older girl said. The younger nodded lightly before lying down in her bed again. Arystillia left the room and Nathalia layed there thinking about the dream she had again. _That man, I know him from somewhere... He looked a lot like... no it can't be!_ Nathalia thought before drifting off to sleep.

Arystillia returned to her room and sat on her bed thinking about what Nathalia said to her early about the dream she had. Arystillia knew that the dream was true and that Nathalia was tied to the Chaos but she didn't want break it to her sister yet. That and the fact that she was l'Cie of Pulse. She lifted her side cape and looked at her brand using a mirror. _Not much time left, _Arystillia thought_, I have to have Nathalia by my side in order to fulfill my Focus. _The navy blue haired girl plopped down on her bed and sooner or later fell asleep.

The next morning, Nathalia and Arystillia left on their assignment together. Half way there, Nathalia stopped walking and stood there.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Nathalia asked.

"Tell you what?" Arystillia asked back.

"That you are a l'Cie of Pulse!" Nathalia snapped.

"It doesn't matter. It never did. The thing that matters now is the fact that your dream was not a dream! It was real!" Arystillia screamed.

"I know that it was real! But that doesn't matter! If you don't complete your focus, you'll become a Cie'th! What will you do once that happens?!" Nathalia shouted.

"I already know how to fulfill my Focus." Arystillia said, avoiding eye contact.

"Does mom know?" Nathalia asked. Arystillia shook her head, her hair following the same motion.

"Listen, when I complete my Focus and I become crystal, promise me you won't do something stupid." Arystillia pleaded and place a hand on Nathalia's shoulder.

"I'll try, that's the best I can say." Nathalia spoke softly, looking at the ground. They both contuned on their assignment until they were attacked by an unknown monster.

"Nathalia! Stay back! I'll handle this!" Arystillia demanded, pulling out her staff. Nathalia ran to hide behind a boulder. _Why am I so useless? I can't do anything right! _Nathalia shouted to herself. Arystillia swung the sharp end of her staff at her monster and then did a combination of Blizzard and Thunder to finish off the monster. After the monster was deafeated, the older girl looked over at the younger one, smiled lightly and collapsed onto the field of grass.

"Arystillia!" Nathalia shouted as she ran over to Arystillia and faced her towards herself.

"N-Nathalia..." Arytsilia spoke weakly "Please don't...do anything stupid...after I become crystal." Arystillia closed her amethyst eyes and slowly became crystal in Nathalia's arms. There was a moment of silence until Nathalia broke out into tears.

"I promise I'll bring you back. I swear it.' Nathalia said to the crystal Arystillia. Nathalia left the crystal intact when she decided to leave but something stopped. She was teleported to the place of the Fal'Cie and was held as captive for several hundreds of year...

"That deal you made with me will one day come in handy. I will bring you to here one day." the figure clad in black spoke before fading into the darkness.


	2. Chapter 1: l'Cie Aren't Always the Enemy

**Author's Note: Sorry for the late update. I've been too caught up updating my Final Fantasy 7 fanfic. You should check that one out too. Here's Chapter 1. Sorry if it doesn't make any sense. It's been awhile since I've watched and learned about the game.**

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For another few hundreds of years, Arystillia remained in crystal stasis until 500 years after the incident with her sister and became a L'Cie, Arystillia was released from being crystallized.

"W-What just happened?" Arystillia asked no one. She checked if her brand was still there and to her horror, it was. _Why was I awaken?_ she thought as she looked at her surrondings. She was at the fal'Cie sanctuary but how had she gotten there? _Where's Nathalia? _she thought as she paced back and forth until she heard a female voice scream, they sounded like they were in pain. _Wait a second, that's Nathalia's scream! _ Without hesitation, Arystillia ran towards the place she had heard the scream come from but was stopped by a bunch of Cie'ths.

"Ugh, just great." she said to the Cie'ths as she aimed fire magic at them, causing them to become ash and crumble to the ground. She heard the scream again and this time ran even faster when she finally made it to the fal'Cie chamber and saw Nathalia was tied up and being attack by Cie'ths.

"Arystillia...help me..." she choked out as she was being attacked again.

"You stay the hell away from my sister!" Arystillia shouted as she shot down two Cie'ths with lightning, one with blizzard, and five with fire. She hurried toward her panicking sister and untied her.

"Thank you... I knew that I would see you...one last time before I had completed my Focus...thank you Arystillia...I love you my dear sister...we'll meet again one day..." Nathalia said, slowly before closing her eyes.

"Nathalia! Wait! No!" Arystillia pleaded but was too late. Standing before her, what used to be her sister was now Crysal. A single tear fell from her eyes as she saw her sister. She heard commotion and knew that people were coming so she decided to run but when she saw a pink haired woman carrying a younger female with the same hair who had the l'Cie brand, she decided to stay.

"Time to go. We have to go before the army- What?" the woman said as she carried the younger one when a man with a gun walked up to her.

"That's a Pulse brand. That girl is a l'CIe." he began.

"I already told you that."she said at the man before him.

" Pulse l'Cie are enemies of Cocoon." he said as he reached for his gun in his hollister.

"So they should die?" the woman asked.

"Listen, if she fails her focus, you know how that'll end." he said, trying to not sound like an enemy.

"And killing her is a mercy?" the woman retorted as she felt a hand on her cheek.

"You came..." the younger woman in her arms spoke softly and the older one set her down on the ground.

"Serah!" an unknown male voice said. From a moving platform, came a blonde man, a young boy with white hair and a girl with a salmony pink hair color held in two low pigtails. The blonde man came running from the platform.

"Serah." he said as he held her hand.

"Is that...my hero?" the younger one that went by the name Serah asked. The two younger ones on the platform moved closer to observe the scene.

"Let's get you out of here." the blonde man said as he held her hand close to his forehead.

"Hands off. I'm taking her home." the older woman with pink hair said in a harsh tone. Serah closed her eyes and turned towards the older pink haired woman.

"Sis, I-" the blonde one said but was cut off.

"I'm not your sister!" the pink haired woman snapped, "You couldn't protect her. It's your fault she-"

"You can save us." Serah said in a hushed tone.

"Serah?" the older pink haired woman questioned.

"You can save us." Serah repeated, "Protect us all. Save...Cocoon."

"Save Cocoon? Serah? That was your focus?" the other woman asked.

"Anything. I'll do anything. Leave it to me-you'll see. I'll protect Cocoon! I'll save everyone!" the blonde man said in a panicked voice.

"Somehow, I'll make things right." the other pink haired woman said.

"You just relax." the blonde said. Serah smiled and closed her eyes.

"Thank you." she said in a hushed voice as a blue light formed around her.

"No..." Arystillia said off in the distance so no one heard her. Serah's body was lifted from the other woman's hold.

"Serah!" she said in protest. Serah's body kept floating into the air and the blonde man's grip on her hand faultered. As her body slowly became crystal, she placed her hands in front of her and held them in a praying matter, a tear slid from under her eye. Her body became a full crystal and the tear landed in the blond man's gloved hand and was in a crystal shape.

"Serah! Serah!" he yelled as he jumped and tried to reach her. The pink haired woman stared in shock as the salmon haired girl cupped her hands over her mouth.

"Why is she turning to crystal?" she asked in surprise.

"L'Cie who fulfill their Focus are transformed into crystal and gain eternal life." the boy with white hair spoke.

"Just like the stories say." the guned man or the man with an afro said.

"Serah... Sweet dreams." the blonde man said. The pink haired woman shoved the afro man away as she approached the blonde man.

"Sweet dreams?" she gripped the blonde man's shirt, "She's not sleeping! Serah's... she's-" she let go of his grip and turned away.

"She's alive!" the blonde man said in protest.

"No." the woman said, her voice cracking.

"The legend! Remember the legend!" he exclaimed, " L' Cie who fufill their Focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life. It's the same with Serah! Eternal life! She's not dead! Serah's my bride-to-be. I promised to be hers forever! I don't care how many years I have to wait-" the pink haired woman balled her hand into a fist and swung it at him, causing him to fall over.

"It's over!" she yelled, "Open you eyes and face reality!" The blonde man layed there with his eyes open.

"If you don't mind me butting into your dramatic conversation but his stories are true." Arystillia said as she descended the steps.

"Who are you and what do you know?" the pink haired woman asked in a harsh tone.

"My name is Arystillia Ladiea, part of the Ladiea Tribe that perished 400 and many odd years ago after my mother died. I know that it's true that when a l'Cie fufill his or her Focus that was given to them by the fal'Cie, they are turned to crystal and are granted eternal life." Arystilla said as she made it onto the same ground as the others.

"How do you know this?" the pink haired woman asked again.

"My only evidence is myself. I was turned into l'Cie 500 years ago and I fulfilled my Focus and here I stand now but... I still have my brand. The fal'Cie has given me another Focus yet I don't know what it is." Arystillia spoke, her voice hinting her accent eventhough it was very faint. Everyone looked at her in shock, then they stopped and returned back to their normal expression.

"Why are you here in the fal'Cie sanctuary?" the pink haired woman asked, her voice not as harsh.

"My sister was held captive here and was turned to crystal not too long after I was released from my crystal stasis." Arystillia spoke as her lavendar eyes looked down at the ground.

"Your sister was turned into crystal? Like Serah?" the pink haired woman asked. Arystillia nodded.

"I have been meaning to ask but what are your names? I don't know anything about you guys." Arystillia.

"The name is Snow." the blonde man said.

"You can call me Sazh." the man with the afro said.

"My name is Oerba Diaa Vanille but you can call me Vanille." the salmon haired girl said in a thick accent.

"My name is Hope." the young boy with white hair said.

"Lightning." the pink haired woman said. Arystillia took a while to completely remember each of their names but she did eventually.

"If you don't mind working with a l'Cie, I could help you guys with this battle. I'm also searching for a way to free my sister from crystal." Arystillia stated. Everyone looked at each other hesitantly before nodding.

"One wrong move, and I won't hesitate to kill you." Lightning threatened as she lead everyone towards the fal'Cie.

"Why are we going here?" Snow asked.

"If I can't free Serah from crystal, I'll kill the fal'Cie for doing this her." Lightning stated.

"Lightning! That's crazy!" Snow yelled.

"You think I care? That's my sister we're talking about!" Lightning yelled back as they all slowly made it towards the fal'Cie.

"Lightning!" Snow yelled.

"I don't care! I told you this already!" Lightning yelled as she drew out her gunblade and charged at the fal'Cie. Everything turned white and then, an image of a monster appeared with suctions and formed crystals on a sphere like shape object but then the sphere was destroyed. After the image was showned, everyone was strewn across the floor.

"Was that the Focus?" Arystillia asked.

"What? We're l'Cie?!" Hope asked. "I don't even know you and you dragged me along and got me into this!" he yelled at Lightning.

"Everyone, calm down." Arystillia said, reassurance in her voice, "I might know what the Focus is about and we can fufill it."

"And get turned to crystal? Are you insane?" Hope asked. Arystillia placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It's going to be alright. I'm going to make sure that everyone will be alright."Arystillia spoke in a hushed, soft tone. Hope closed his eyes and unclenched his fist.

We'll be alright? Can you promise?" he asked the navy blue haired girl.

"I'll promise you that." she spoke still in her soft tone.

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**AN: Thank you for reading! Please R&amp;R. It helps me get inspired to keep writing.  
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	3. Chapter 2: Hidden Truths Can Change

**Author's Note: This chapter focuses on the events in Lake Bresha but twisted to fit with my storyline plot. The narrator for the "Final Fantasy XIII part" will be Arystillia. Oh and heads up for abuse of Snow. I don't like his character as much. Too big of an ego. Reminds me of my real life math teacher. This chapter should make sense then the previous one. Oh yeah! Before I forget... I would like to say thanks to Commisar Admiral Kordoshky and Mistress GailianCrystal for reviewing and following my story. I greatly appreciate it. Enjoy this chapter!**

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Everything around them went black again and when they started to see light again, they were at Lake Bresha, or whatever of it that remained uncrystalized. Almost everything was crystalized after Anima fell from being attacked.

"So this is what Cocoon is like?" Arystillia asked.

"You're telling me that you've never been on Cocoon?" Snow asked, shocked.

"Well 'smart one', being born and raised on Pulse and being a l'Cie for you're entire life doesn't give you much opportunities." Arystillia sassed the blonde man. Lightning glanced at Arystillia and snickered. _Finally, someone who finds Snow annoying besides me. _

"This is Lake Bresha, well used to..." Hope mentioned as he saw the fal'Cie Vestige, the fal'Cie that branded them all, the one that doomed all of their lives. They wandered around Lake Bresha a while until Snow saw something that caught his eyes.

"Serah?!" Snow saw the crystal figure and saw that she was stuck to an even bigger chunk of crystal. Lightning rushed over to see her younger sister completely bonded to another piece of crystal.

"Wait, Arystillia. You said that your sister was also crystalized inside the Pulse Vestige, so wouldn't that mean she is somewhere around here?" Vanille asked the older girl.

"Well if she is here, I don't want to find her." Arystillia bluntly stated.

"Why not? Wouldn't you want to be with your sister?" Vanille asked, trying to get Arystillia to answer.

"Even if I did, I wouldn't be able to help her if she is like Serah. I would rather move on from this, fight off whatever they throw at us and bring her back unlike this blonde doofus! He's just going to sacrificed himself by using a weapon that obviously can't break crystal to free Serah! Does he even have a brain?" Arystillia ranted, making sure that Snow heard what she said about him.

"You're saying that you would just leave your sister here? You wouldn't care what would happen to her?" Snow demanded.

"What am I supposed to do? Stay here and mourn and have a chance of getting killed? I'm not stupid Snow." Arystillia glared at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another crystal figure.

"What did your sister look like?" Hope asked as he stood by the other crystal figure.

"Why do you ask?" Arystillia asked the younger boy. He pointed at the crystal being. Arystillia walked over to the boy to see her sister completely crystalized.

"Is that your sister?" Vanille asked. Arystillia didn't respond to the young girl, instead she kept her eyes on the crystal.

"So... you really are going to abandon her?" Sazh finally spoke up.

"It better than staying here and waiting for my death to come." Arystillia spoke, quietly.

"Lightning, what's your focus?" Hope asked the pink haired woman.

"I don't know...I saw... a giant beast and Cocoon falling out of the sky then, the beast prevented its fall by crystalizing it..." Lightning spoke.

"That's what I saw." everyone else spoke in unison.

"Then our focus is to..." Arystillia began.

"Save Cocoon." evryone said again.

"That was probably Serah's focus." Snow said.

"What is up with you and your obsession over Serah?" Lightning asked, eyes menacing.

"She is my bride-to-be! There's a reason why I should care about her!" Snow yelled at pink haired woman.

"That doesn't mean everything you talk about has to be about Serah! Its Serah this, Serah that! She's my sister and I don't even talk about her as much as you do!" Lightning raised her voice.

"You don't ever show any emotions. Maybe that's why you don't love Serah the way I do!" Snow retorted. Everything went silent when Snow said that. Everyone knew what was going to happen next, Snow had went too far. Lightning balled her hand into a fist and it t

"Open your eyes and face reality! Life isn't going to be easy anymore! It either complete focus, become crystal or give up and turn into Cie'ths!" Lightning yelled at the man that now layed on the ground.

_When I first met Snow, I disliked him instantly. He thinks he's all that. Such a big ego but I knew that somehow, I would end up having to deal with him. Looks like I wasn't wrong after kind of people are the most annoying out of all of them._

Snow got back up, rubbed his jaw and looked at Lightning. Sure she was smaller than him but damn can she pack one punch.

"Sis I-" Snow began but Lightning cut him off again by punching him on the other side of his jaw.

"If you love Serah so much, then stay here and let PSICOM kill you. You aren't a regular human anymore, you're a Pulse l'Cie, enemy of Cocoon. Go ahead, stay and do what you want." Lightning told the taller man who was once again, on the ground. Then as if nothing happened, the female soldier stormed off.

"That's right. I'll stay here and watch over Serah." he said as he started to jam the weapon into the crystal when Arystillia walked right past him, "And, I'll keep your sister safe too." Arystillia ignored him and left him to be whatever he wanted to do. After they all left with Snow left behind, soldiers came and took away Serah and Nathalia's crystal form and a woman, who looked like she was born on Pulse came and took Snow away. He noticed that the woman had a Pulse l'Cie brand but it was white instead.

"You. You're one of us so why are you helping them?" the blonde asked.

"If you want to live, then don't ask question and follow me." she responded as she nudged him to keep moving.

_My dear sister, I have failed you once again. I am sorry for all of my mistakes I have done in my life. Is there a way to be forgiven and granted with another chance? For now, I will keep fighting and bring you back one day. Mark my words are the oldest daughter of Cassandra Mary Ladeia and Nathan Ladeia, the last leaders of the Ladeia, and as a Pulse l'Cie. Please...forgive me._

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**Please R&amp;R! Thank so much**


	4. Chapter 3: Dreams of the Past

**Author's Note: I suck at battle scenes so don't judge. Also this chapter slightly goes over Nathalia and Arystillia's relationship, Arystillia's past and her beating herself internally.**

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"Arystillia?_ What are you doing?" Nathalia's voice spoke. The older girl looked up to see her sister._

_ "Nathalia? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in crystal stasis..." Arystillia said, disbelief in her voice._

_ "It's because you want me to be here." Nathalia spoke in her usual monotone voice._

_ "What do you mean?" the darker haired girl asked._

_ "Your desire to have me by your side has grown so strong that I had no choice but to appear in your dreams. You see, I am still in crystal stasis so I can only appear in dreams." Nathalia said, her voice less monotone._

_ "Why did you appear here? Do you have to tell me something?" Arystillia asked as she tilted her head to the side._

_ "Yes I do, actually. Cocoon's military... PSICOM and Guardian Corps, instructed by the Sanctum's Primarch Dysley, is attempting to use Lightning, Vanille, Hope, Snow, and you to take down the fal'Cie of Eden, Orphan. If Orphan were to fall, then Cocoon would fall and crash down onto Gran Pulse, which would lead to a major catastrophe. Your Focus, it is to summon the beast of Wrath, Ragnarok which will obey the orders of the Creator and bring Cocoon down into Pulse and destroying both worlds. It is what you have to do but there might be a way to not have to destroy Cocoon..." Nathalia told her older sister all the knowledge she knew about the Sanctum's plan._

_ "So what do I do?" Arystillia asked._

_ "You must..." Nathalia began but she was slowly starting to fade away._

_ "Nathalia?! Nathalia!" Arystillia shouted as she reached out for her sister's arm but her hand just went right through it. She continued to reach out at her fading sister until there was nothing left but a glimmer of where she used to be._

_ "Nathalia..." Arystillia whispered._

_"Protect Cocoon and Pulse, please..." a crystal shard said in Nathalia's voice._

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"Nathalia!" Arystillia woke with a sudden jolt and sat up. She scanned the area for glimpses of her younger sister but nothing was spotted except for darkness and Hope's green eyes, looking at her with concern.

"What's wrong Arystillia? You seemed to be having a bad dream." Hope asked the older girl.

"It's nothing... don't worry about. You should get more rest. It will be better for you." Arystillia told the younger boy. He nodded and went back to his area where he was resting. She saw Lightning sitting and staying on guard but slightly dosing off. Arystillia faintly smiled at the sight. They were like a family but not at the same time since half of their group had split off. The blue haired girl looked down at her palm to see a crystal shard with a light tint of blue on it. _It's the crystal from my dream... _she thought as she held the shard close to her heart, a tear slipping her eye and falling down her cheek.

"Why don't you get some rest? I'll be fine standing guard." Lightning told Arystillia in a groggy voice.

"Are you sure?" Arystillia asked. Lightning nodded and Arystillia laid back down on the hard ground, observing the scenary. They had went from Lake Bresha to the Vile Peaks, from crystal lake to a wasteland from the war between Cocoon and Gran Pulse, the War of Transgression. The War of Transgression, the war that took away most of her beloved tribe, the war that had killed her father. Arystillia blinked back the tears but they rolled from her eyes to her cheeks to the ground, soaking it. She dug around in her bag and found a bracelet that her sister had given her for her nineteenth birthday and tied the crystal shard to it. She gently closed her eyes, bracelet still in hand and slowly drifted off to sleep.

_ I'm sorry, for failing all of you. I am a failure, a burden to you all. I shouldn't be with you guys. I am only going to cause more suffering, more pain, more sorrow than you need. I am sorry for ever meeting for you, I shouldn't have ever talked to you... I should have let you go on with your plans. If I could be given one wish before I die, then I would wish for a chance_

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_to live again and right the wrongs I have done._

_ "Where am I?" Arystillia asked no one._

_ "You're back in your tribe, Arystillia." spoke a voice that she remembered from a long time ago. She turned around and was faced with a man with sliver hair and blueish green eyes._

_ "H-Hope?" Arystillia asked, realizing how much he looked like an older version of Hope. The man chuckled._

_ "Who is this 'Hope'? It's me, don't you remember?" he asked, reaching for a warm hug from her._

_ "S-Stay away from me!" Arystillia warned._

_ "What's wrong? Why are you avoiding me?" he asked, concerned. Arystillia started to run away from the man that she was talking too. She kept running until she ran into a woman with pink hair._

_ "L-Light-" she began but Lightning place a finger in front of her lips, gesturing for Arystillia to be quiet._

_ "Come on, show Arystillia what you truly are made of!" Lightning exclaimed as Hope aimed his boomerang at the man, knocking his feet out from under him and causing him to fall onto both knees. The slivered haired boy stepped out from the shadows with a slight menacing look in his eyes._

_ "What...? Why do you look like a younger me?" the man asked._

_ "I didn't come here to chit-chat." Hope said before bending down to the man's level, "Now stay away from Arystillia, got that? Stupid imposter." The minute Hope said that, the man turned into a behemoth. Lightning struck her Blazefire Saber into it and then switched it into gun mode and finished it off. _

_ "Done and done." she said before approaching Arystillia, "Wake up, wake up! Arystillia wake up!" Lightning yelled._

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"Wake up!" Lightning called and that startled Arystillia. Her eyes quickly shot open and she sat up.

"PSICOM's on our trail. We have to get moving." Hope told Arystillia as he helped her up. Arystillia dusted herself off and looked at Lightning.

"So where do we go now, boss?" Arystillia asked Lightning. Lightning glanced at her.

"Call me Light." Lightning told her with a pained look like the words were made of poison that she was forced to swallow.

"Ok, _Light_. Where do we go now?" Arystillia asked, putting emphasis on the word Light which caused Lightning to cringe.

"We're going to the Gapra Whitewoods." Lightning deadpanned.

"Alright, sounds good to me." Arystillia smiled and nudged Hope a little which was a signal for him to smile. He quicklly understood what she meant and smiled also.

"Then, let's move out. Don't leave your weapon behind, Arystillia." Lightning told the blue haired woman.

"Right, almost forgot." Arystillia mumbled before bending down and picking up her staff/lance. They began to leave the Vile Peaks but there were 3 PSICOM soldiers and 4 Guardian Corps soliders.

"Looks like Guardian Corps has decided to join up with PSICOM. No more rivalry I see." Lightning said as she pulled her Blazefire Saber out of it's seathe. Hope pulled out his boomerang and Arystillia pulled out her staff and it turned into a lance but had the ablities of a staff.

"After the l'Cie!" one of the soldiers said. Lightning ran towards them and slashed at one of soldiers before turning her gunblade into a gun a shooting 3 of the soldiers. Hope threw his boomerang at one the soldiers, knocking him to the ground and Arystillia casted a fire spell on him. She casted a thunder spell on the remaining two.

"Let's get out of here before more come!" Arystillia callled to the other two before was too late because a machine had come towards them.

"It's a pulse armament!" Lightning exclaimed as she shoot at it before turning her gunblade back into a sword and started slashing at it. Arystillia summoned a Thundaga spell at the machine and then a Blizzaga spell. The machine charged back and hit Lightning to the ground.

"Ahhhh!" Lightning screamed as she hit the ground with a thud. Arystillia summoned a Curasa spell as Hope summoned a Water spell and aimed it towards the machine. Lightning got back up and started slashing at the machine again. Arystillia summoned a Aeroga spell and a Firaga spell and combined them together and merged it with her lance and charged at the machine. She stabbed her lance into the machine and while holding onto her staff, she swung around on it to ensure it was lodged in the machine and then she dragged the lance across the body of the machine. Lightning shot at it and the machine crumbled down.

"Glad that's over." Hope said with a relief.

"For a soldier who is supposed really tough, you sure scream like a girly girl." Arystillia teased Lightning who looked away in embarrassment.

"Let's go." Lightning deadpanned, trying to hid the embarrassment that was seeping through to her voice. Arystillia snickered as she followed Lightning and Hope to the Gapra Whitewoods.

_I had a really weird dream, Nathalia. If you heard about it, you would laugh. In my dream I saw him again but then Lightning and Hope intervened and he turned out to be a behemoth. Hope seemed really upset that the man was trying to make a move on me. He's still a young boy going through his teenage, hormonal years. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a crush on me. Honestly, to me that's kind of cute. Anyways, I found out that Light has a secret girly side that she hides behind that tough exterior. She really is like you. I've been meaning to ask... how am I going to save Cocoon if my Focus is to destroy it? I wish you could give me the answer now but I know you are still in crystal stasis. So now, Light, Hope and I are heading towards the Gapra Whitewoods to toughen Hope up. I hope it works out._


	5. Chapter 4: Eidolons Attack

**Author's Note: It seems the Eidolons like to appear on the same day. Arystillia cares about Hope but she doesn't know what to do with her future. Hope you enjoyed (pun intended). I also suck at fight scenes so whatever.**

* * *

_"Eidolons... a forbiddened ability that only l'Cie own. One can summon a vicious beast that will fight along them... Hecatoncheir, Brynhilder, Alexander, Odin, Bahamut, Shiva, Leviathan, and Ramuh. Those summons were given to the 7 l'Cie and the one that turned to crystal, the warrioress. When the l'Cie were desperate, the eidolons will appear as judgement to test them. If they pass, then they will become their eidolon and fight alongside them..." a voice spoke out to Arystillia in her mind._

_ "Who are you?" Arystillia asked._

_ "I am someone you know very well. Someone that is dear to you." the voice spoke again, this time clearer._

_ "M-Mother?" Arystillia asked. The figure stepped out from the shadows and there before Arystillia's eyes was a woman with cerulean blue hair pulled back in a braid that was tossed to the side with a few flowers woven into the braid, icy blue eyes and was dressed in a sky blue top and turquiose draping over her dark blue shorts. She wore a bunch of jewelery and the same boots that Arystillia wore only shorter._

_ "I'm glad you remembered me, my dear." her mother, Cassandra said._

_ "Why are you here?" Arystillia asked. Her mother closed her eyes before exhaling._

_ "I am here to guide you." her mother replied, calmly._

_ "Guide me where?" Arystillia asked._

_ "You ask too many questions, you are just the same as you were when I was still around." her mother replied with a soft chuckle, "I am here to guide you on the path you are supposed to go on."_

_ "What do you mean?" Arystillia questioned._

_ "One day you will understand, my child but now, I mustn't stay here any longer." her mother's voice started to seem distant._

_ "Wait, when will I see you again?" Arystillia asked, a tear slipping from her cheek._

_ "Soon, my dear, soon."_

* * *

Arystillia awoke with a sudden pain coming from her l'Cie brand. Lightning and Hope looked over to see that her brand was glowing a faint yellow.

"Arystillia?!" Hope asked out of shock.

"Stay away! If you get close, you might get hurt!" Arystillia shouted although it came out strained.

"B-B-" he began but she cut him off.

"If you get in the way, you'll get hurt. I don't want you to get hurt because I care about you." Arystillia pleaded. Hope stared back with green eyes, filled with shock.

"Hope. She said to stay away so stay away." Lightning stated. Hope made what seemed to make a slight whimper sound. Arystillia cried out in pain when a eidolon summoning circle appeared beneath her and the summon Ramuh appeared.

"What in th-" Arystillia asked but was cut off when Ramuh struck a lightning bolt at her but she quickly dodged it. Arystillia reached for her weapon but fell over with a loud thud.

"Get up or you'll die!" Lightning yelled at Arystillia. Arystillia stumbled as she got up and noticed that Hope was standing in front of her with his Airwing out.

"What the hell are you doing, Hope? Don't be a fool!" Arystillia shouted as her staff turned into a lance. Lightning came over with her Blazefire Saber out and ready to aim.

"I want to protect you!" Hope yelled at Arystillia.

"You wouldn't be able to even if you tried! This is the God of Lightning, Ramuh. You take one blow and you're done for! Stand back, Hope. If there's someone who needs protecting, its you and I'll be the one who does the protecting." Arystillia told Hope.

"Arystillia..." Hope began.

"No more, Hope. I wasn't able to protect my sister so I'lll protect you from any harm." Arystillia spoke in a soft whisper. She ran towards Ramuh, jumped, wrapped her leg on it's staff, swung around on it a few times before letting go and flew high into the sky. Meanwhile, Lightning was shooting at the Eidolon a few times before returning to slashing at it and then repeating while Hope was healing Lightning when neccessary. Arystillia came back down and plunged her weapon into the eidolon, yanked out, did a back flip and landed on both feet.

"Not enough to kill it, eh?" Arystillia asked in a rhetorical tone before summoning an Aeroga and Firaga spell and aiming it at the Eidolon. She charged at it and stabbed her weapon into it again. This time it stopped moving before turning into a bird like creature, flying high up into the air and swooping down as Arystillia jumped on it with her staff in hand. The battle was now over and the Eidolon, Ramuh was now hers. Ramuh disappeared and a star shaped crystal with a Lightning bolt striking right throught the center appeared and land it in her hands.

"Woah, I've never seen a person do something so risky." Hope told Arystillia in awe.

"That's how you survive on Gran Pulse." Arystillia replied as her lance became a staff again and she place it on her belt where she kept all her other things for survival on there.

"When you said that you wanted to protect you, did you really mean it?" Hope asked the older girl.

"Would I ever lie to you?" Arystillia asked, her lips slowly forming a smile. Hope shook his head, "Good. Now Light."

"What is it?" Lightning asked.

"Shouldn't we start moving closer towards the Gapra Whitewoods?" Arystillia asked their _leader_.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get going." Lightning told Hope and Arystillia. The three of them started walking when some soldiers came rushing towards them.

"L'Cie! Freeze where you are!" one of them said.

"Nice try." Lightning said, smirking as she kicked one of the guys in the stomach, sending him up and then did a spin kick which sent him flying in the other direction.

"Now, who's next?" Arystillia asked, arms crossed while smirking.

"You don't scare us. You don't have a weapon!" another soldier said.

"I don't? Maybe you need to get your eyes checked. Oh wait, after today you won't be needing too." Arystillia retorted as she pulled out her staff and it tranformed into a lance.

"That weapon, it's not a weapon from Cocoon. It's a weapon from Pulse. She's from Pulse." the third soldier said.

"I'm surpised it took you guys this long to figure that out. What does Sanctum teach you guys?" Arystillia asked as she hit one with them with her elbow and kicked the other, "Oops, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were such a baby." Arystillia retorted, her voice full of sarcasm.

"Get her!" the leader of the group said. Arystillia closed her eyes and waited until most of the soldiers got to her before she summoned a Blizzaga spell on all of them.

"Got any final words?" Lightning asked the leader as she advanced towards him with the blade of her gunblade aimed at his neck.

"Kill the l-" he began but Lightning slashed at him.

"A target's a target." she said, cooly as she shook the blood from her blade. Hope stared at her in disbelief.

"Are you guys coming or not?" Lightning asked the two. Arystillia caught up with her with Hope right beind her. They contined until the reached the bridge that connected the Vile Peaks to the Gapra Whitewoods. By then, the sky had already turned dark. Lightning and Arystillia crossed the bridge with ease but when Hope crossed the bridge, he tripped and fell over.

"This isn't working." Lightning said.

"Huh?" Hope asked as he got up.

"I mean you're a liability." Lightning snapped, "You'll just slow me down."

"What?" Hope asked, frowning.

"I'm sorry but I can't protect you when-" Lightning began but was cut off from a pain coming from her l'Cie brand.

"You can't leave me here, you've got to take me with you!" Hope said, this time a little agriavated.

"Enough! The whole world is against us!" Lightning said, her voice a strained, her hand on her l'CIe brand as she fell to the ground, " I can barely keep myself alive, let alone some helpless kid!" Lightning groaned in pain.

"I don't have time to baby you. You want to get tough? Do it own you own!" Lightning yelled.

"Lightning, what are you saying?" Arystillia asked.

"And you, you've caused too much trouble for me!" Lightning snapped. A summoning circle appeared underneath her that glowed a rose pink as the Eidolon, Odin appeared. Lightning ran from the circle and Hope shielded his eyes. _Hecatoncheir, Brynhilder, Alexander, Odin, Bahamut, Shiva, Leviathan, and Ramuh, _Arystillia named the eidolon's names in her mind.

"This cannot be happening!" Lightning said in disbelief as Odin charged at Hope, "Look out!" She ran towards Hope and so did Arystillia. Arystillia summoned a Thundara and aimed it at Odin while Hope summoned a Water spell. Lightning charged at it, slashing and shooting at Odin while Arystillia spammed all the magic spells she knew on the Eidolon. Odin turned towards Hope and swung his massive sword at Hope, knocking him off the ground.

"Hope!" Arystillia screamed and used a Curaja spell on him. After the repeated process of slashing, shooting, and using magic, Odin finally placed his sword down on the ground and transformed into a horse. He swooped down and Lightning picked up his sword, split it in half and jumped onto his back. Odin disappeared and a rose shaped crystal replaced it and it gently fell into Lightning's palm.

"Is today Eidolon's day?" Arystillia asked. Hope shrugged and Lightning sighed.

"Lighting, did you mean what you said?" Hope asked.

"Don't take what I said too harshly. Listen. I'm sorry." Lightning said as she looked down into Hope's green eyes.

"Okay, okay. Let's go." Arystillia saiud, suddenly feeling annoyed. The three of them crossed the bridge and headed towards the entrance of the Gapra Whitewoods.

_Mom, you were right about the eidolons. I wish you would have told me more about my Focus._


	6. Chapter 5: Pain and Sorrow

**Author's Note: Another Chapter done! Whew! In this chapter, it talks a little bit more about Nathalia and who she is. Hope you guys enjoy!  
P.S: The line breaks show when the scene switches from character or to flashbacks.**

* * *

As they finally reached the Gapra Whitewoods, Arystillia got an uneasy feeling about the place. She seemed to get the vibe that something really powerful was there, waiting for them to walk right into it's territory and then kill them without a second thought.

"There's no one here." Hope stated the obvious. Arystillia continued walking, this time a little more cautious, hand on her weapon. Lightning had her gunblade in gun mode and had it out in front of her, ready to shoot. The entrance door closed and Lightning eased her weapon.

"Can't believe we made it." Hope said, slightly out of breath.

"Yeah, but we better stay on guard. Who knows what could be lurking here?" Lightning told Hope. Arystillia nodded in agreement.

"I'll check point. You guys watch our backs." Lightning told Hope and Arystillia.

"How about I check point and you two watch our backs?" Hope asked Lightning.

"Are you sure, Hope?" Arystillia asked. Hope nodded and Lightning sighed.

"If you want, you can but try not to get hurt." Lightning told the silver haired boy.

"Be careful, PSICOM and Guardian Corps soldiers could be hiding in here." Arystillia told Hope as he started to advance foward, "You'll never know when one pops out of no where and tries to kill you."

"I will." he responded to her. Lightning and Arystillia followed their _leader _ into the Whitewoods so that they can escape the military that were desperately trying to find l'Cie and killing them.

* * *

**Nathalia's P.O.V:**

"Nathalia! Wait! No!" I heard my sister's desperate pleads but there was nothing I could have done to prevent the fact that I was turning to crystal. As I was slowly crystallizing, I remembered my first journey of traveling through time to the future that this world would become. I never knew that time traveling was possible. Boy did I seem old at that moment.

_I closed my eyes, not wanting to admit to the fact that I was floating through time and space itself. The fal'Cie had put me here and now I am being forced to go to the end of time and call the great guardian to Valhalla, the Unseen Realm. After drifting through time and space, I landed at where my destination was, A Dying World 700 AF. AF? I thought to myself, what does that mean? I quickly ran to a nearby boulder to hide when I saw people approaching. I saw a teenaged boy with chocolate brown hair and ocean blue eyes, a young girl with silvery blue hair and green eyes, and a man with purple hair and purple eyes. That man, he looks like him. Caius Ballad, I told myself as I continued to observe the trio._

_ "You want to train to become a guardian and protect Yeul?" the purple haired man asked._

_ "I want to protect Yeul alongside you, Caius." the teenaged boy responded. Caius? What?! I practically exclaimed inside my mind._

_ "Noel Kreiss, born at the end of days. You do not understand that if you were to become a Guardian, that means that you must kill me and receive the power of chaos. That means that you will be cursed with immortality." Caius told Noel._

_ "What do you? What's this stuff about Chaos and all that?" Noel asked._

_ "You do not understand yet but you will, soon enough." Caius told Noel, his eyes focusing on me. Damn, he saw me, I thought._

_ "Show yourself." Caius demanded. I slowly stepped out of the shadows and looked Caius straight in the eyes._

_ "Nathalia. Why are you here?" Caius asked. My breath was caught in my throat as he stared at me._

_ "I was sent here on a mission." I stated, no emotion in my voice. He slowly walked over and stopped when he was a few inches from my face._

_ "I see, then I supposed that you will be staying here until you complete your task?" he asked as his purple eyes stared into my blue ones.I had always hated when he did that kind of stuff, it always made me uncomfortable._

_ "Yes." was my response and he slowly backed away. Noel came over to me._

_ "Are you a friend of his?" he asked me. I looked down at the ground before me and then looked back up into his ocean blue eyes._

_ "In a way, yes but not exactly. Not after what he did." I told the teenaged boy that was taller than me._

_ "Well then, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Noel Kreiss and welcome to my village, although there isn't much left." he told me, a twinge of sorrow in his voice._

_ "i guess you already know who I am since Caius already said my name out loud. What happened here?" I asked. _

_ "When I was born, it was already like this. I'm not sure what had happened." Noel responded._

_ "I see... and this young girl here must be Yeul." I said as I looked over at the girl. She nodded. So many questions ran through my head but I didn't want to ask Noel or pressure him into telling me._

_ "Show me that you are worthy of being a Guardian of the Seeress." Caius told Noel as he reached for his sword. Damn that sword was huge. Noel pulled out a dagger and they clashed swords for a while until Caius swiped Noel's sword away from him, which caused him to fall over._

_ "You are not ready, not yet." Caius told Noel as he walked away. I rushed over to Noel, grabbing his sword in the process._

_ "Are you alright?" I asked as I handed him his sword._

_ "That damned Caius. He's always like this. Thinking he's so superior. I want to beat him in battle but not kill him and I just don't know how." Noel told me._

_ "You'll need training. A lot of it. It took me years to be able to wield a sword correctly and even longer to be able to defeat a taget. I remember in the past Caius and I would spar to see who was stronger and he would always win. But then after a couple of years of intense sword training, I became equally matched as him and I never got any further then that. If you need any help in training, come to me." I told Noel and I saw a look of hope in his eyes. _

_ "Will you guide me?" he asked._

_ "I will but I cannot guide you to beat him since I have never beaten him once in my life. I will guide you until you are stable at killing monsters but that is the most that I will do. I will also teach you how to use two swords since that way, you can charge at an enemy easier." I told the boy._

_ "Two swords? But you only carry one." he mumbled, confused. I sighed and closed my eyes._

_ "That is long gone, along with my past of happy days." I whispered, barely audible. I had promised to teach the boy all I could and I lived up to that promise. In a year or so, he had become even more experienced with dual wielding than I ever was. One day, Noel went out hunting so that left me with time to complete my mission._

_ "Caius." I called out to the warrior._

_ "What is is?" he asked._

_ "We need to talk." I whispered since Yeul was nearby and she did not need to hear any of this conversation, " Let's go somewhere private." We went outside of the area we were staying in._

_ "What did you need to talk to me about?" Caius asked me._

_ "One, why the hell did you disappear on me like that? Two, why were you in my dream? And three, you need to go to Valhalla." I told him._

_ "I left because I had protect Yeul." he responded._

_ "And you left without a goodbye or anything?" I questioned, slightly raising my voice._

_ "I had too." he told me in his calm voice._

_ "You always do this kind of crap! You disappear and then you reappear!" I yelled._

_ "Nathalia." he spoke quietly._

_ "I don't care what you have to say." I bluntly stated, " Why did you appear in my dream?" _

_ "You were dying from the sickness and there was no cure but to turn you immortal. I wanted to save you." he told me._

_ "But why?" I asked._

_ "I care about you." he told me. That was when I snapped._

_ "You never cared about me! All you ever cared about was Yeul and your damned self!" I yelled at him, tears slowly forming in my eyes._

_ "Stop." he said._

_ "You always lied to me. You tried to trick me into falling in love with you! Well guess what Caius Ballad, you succeed!" I shouted, my voice cracking, " I hope you're happy."_

_ "Nat-" he began but I cut him off._

_ "If you really are a true warrior and a guardian then go to Valhalla. That was the reason I was sent here." I told him after blinking back the tears that threatened to spill over. I turned so that I wasn't facing him._

_ "I will if Noel is not capable of becoming the next guardian but if he is, then he will go in my place." he calmly replied._

_ "So you're willing to die?" I asked him._

_ "Yes."_

_ "I see..." I couldn't face him, not after that outburst. I was so ashamed but I knew that he was grieving so I told myself that after this l'Cie curse is gone then I will go back in time and prevent the Goddess Etro from ever giving him her heart and letting him live a normal life without having to protect Yeul until the end of time. It was a vain hope but I still believed that maybe one day it would work out._

_ "If you see Noel again, tell him that I'm sorry to leave on him unexpectedly but I must return to the time period of where I came from in the first place." I told Caius before a golden light appear and took me away._

_ "I'm sorry..." I never knew if Noel ever became the new guardian and if Caius is dead..._

* * *

The last thing I saw before I had completely crystalized was my sister's tears slowly glidding down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry..." was the only thing that I could say.

**Normal P.O.V**:

As the trio wandered through the Gapra Whitewoods, Arystillia started getting more and more cautious. The further they got in, the more the presence of evil got stronger and it made her feel uneasy.

"Um..." Arystillia started but couldn't think of what to say next.

"What is it?" Lightning asked.

"I'm not the only one who thinks that there is something wrong here, right?" Arystillia asked. Lightning closed her sky blue eyes and sighed before shaking her head.

"You're over paranoid. There's nothing wrong here." the pink haired woman stated with bluntness.

"How would you know? Have you ever been here before, Soldier?" Arystillia quickly retorted, purple eyes glaring towards the blue eyed woman.

"No." the other woman responded.

"Well why don't you keep your mouth shut if you don't know what's in here?" Arystillia snapped.

"You don't know anything either, you've never been on Cocoon. This is your first time being here while I've lived here my whole life!" Lightning snapped.

"Where? In the seaside town of Bodhum? That doesn't prove that you know what lurks in these woods! Hell, there might even be demons here." Arystillia snapped back at Lightning.

"If you think that then why don't you just get the hell out of here!" Lightning shouted.

"Fine! I will!" Arystillia yelled and turned to walk away when a behemoth appeared and heaved her into the air and started swiping it's claws at her.

"Arystillia!" Hope exclaimed when Arystillia's body landed on the ground like a lifeless doll.

"Stupid Girl. Look what she's gotten us into." Lightning deadpanned as she pulled out her Blazefire Saber. Hope rushed over to the fallen girl and saw that there were three gaping wounds on her stomach and gash on her arm. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Hope..." Arystillia managed to choke out, "Go somewhere... safe and leave me...I'll be fine..." each of her breaths were cut shorter each time and her words were slowly becoming inaudible.

"No..." Hope whispered as images of his mother flashed before him. He saw her picking up the gun, following Snow, her hanging off the edge and letting go, and her falling to her impending doom.

"Arystillia, you can't die! Not now! Please!" he begged as he held onto her hand. Lightning on the other hand was taking on the behemoth by herself and she was surprisingly winning. She had managed to stagger it so now she could do however many attacks she had to in order to finish it off without it attacking her. In the back of her mind, images of Serah turning to crystal played in her mind. _Had she come to think of Arystillia as a sister? There was no way that was possible. The girl was annoying compared to Serah but when she had seen the behemoth heave her into the air, it was like her heart had stopped, like when Serah turned to crystal. _Hope was desperately looking through his bag to see if there was a spare potion anywhere since using a Curaja spell would take for too long.

"Please, hold on." he begged. He couldn't afford to lose another person that he trusted. Although he had just met her, he felt attached to the blue haired woman in of him.

"Please, just go. I don't want you to get hurt..." Arystillia begged Hope before passing out.

_For the first time in all of my life, I felt death calling out to me. Could this be the end for me? I was never scared of dying but now to think that I was slow close to it, I was scared._

* * *

_ "I won't let you die." I heard the voice again. The figure became more visible and there again was my mother._

_ "Why not?" I asked._

_ "Because, your time hasn't come yet. You must live and continue onwards with life."_

* * *

Arystillia regained consciousness to feel what was once excruciatingly painful had now subsided to a throb.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I was able to stop the bleeding and slightly heal it. It isn't fully healed but it will do." Hope told Arystillia in a reassuring voice.

"You're such an idiot. Why did you do that? You know, Hope was worried sick about you." Lightning deadpanned, clearly trying to hid the fact that she was also worried about Arystilliia, " I was worried too." she whispered, inaudibly. Arystillia smiled.

"What are you smiling about?" Lightning asked.

"You were worried about me, weren't you?" Arystillia asked in a singsong voice.

"Don't go getting cocky." Lightning bluntly stated, turning the other to hide that she was embarrassed, " you should be lucky that Hope even decided to save your sorry ass."

"Oh yeah, thanks Hope. I owe you one." Arystillia told Hope who looked away and nodded curtly. Lightning sighed before sitting down on the ground.

"We'll rest here for tonight and then we'll continue onwards tomorrow." Lightning told the crew and the other two nodded.

_Hope saved my life today. I really owe him a lot now don't I? Oh and Lightning was worried but she's always trying to hide it. I saw mom again, she told me that it's not my time to die yet. I wonder why it is not?_


	7. Chapter 6: Regret

**Author's Note: Introduction to a character that will appear a few more times in this story. Arystillia had a very tragic past that she keeps hidden away. Sorry if this triggers feels... Enjoy!**

* * *

"You are useless. All you have ever done is caused suffering and pain." a voice spoke.

"Who are you? If you've got the guts then reveal yoursel. This crap that you're saying doesn't affect me at all!" Arystillia warned. A flash of white light appeared and there stood a girl with emerald green hair that had black streaks in it and sapphire blue eyes.

"Marcella!" Arystillia exclaimed.

"I'm surprised you remember me." Marcella spoke in her sinister tone.

"Why are you here?" Arystillia asked.

"I don't have to answer you." Marcella responded. Arystillia narrowed her eyes at the woman before her.

"Where's your sister?" the emerald haired woman asked.

"You don't need to know. Why are you here in the Whitewoods?" Arystillia demanded more instead of asking.

"I'll let you figure that out by yourself." Marcella teased, "Hmmm, I miss messing around with your sister about who deserved Caius better. Obviously I do and she doesn't. He's too good for her." she chuckled.

"You don't deserve anyone, not with that twisted personality." Arystillia mumbled.

"What did you say, stupid l'Cie?" Marcella asked, whipping her head in Arystillia's way.

"I said, You don't deserve anyone, not with that twisted personality." Arystillia stated, a bit more aggravated then before. Marcella advanced towards Arystillia and was about to swing a punch at her but Arystillia dodged it and swung her lance at the opposing girl.

"You damned, l'Cie!" Marcella shouted.

"Is this all you are now?" Arystillia asked as she dodged another punch.

"It was all because you that our tribe fell. If you were there then we might have been able to survive much longer. And in order for me to be at peace again, I will slay you!" Marcella exclaimed, "Everything was fine until you woke up from your damned crystal stasis!" she pulled out an odachi blade and started slashing her way towards Arystillia. _Odd, I don't feel any aura or presence emitting from her. Is she even alive? _Arystillia thought as she dodged a swing from the opposing girl's sword.

"Heh, this reminds me of the good times before you decided to betray me. Doesn't it?" Arystillia smirked as she spun and slashed her lance at the girl.

"Don't patronize me!" Marcella yelled as she managed to slice off some of Arystillia's hair.

"Let's not forget that I know magic and you don't." Arystillia retorted.

"That's because you are a l'Cie!" Marcella yelled once more. Arystillia did a back flip before summoning her eidolith.

"Ramuh." Arystillia spoke before slashing the blade of her lance into the crystal and sparks of lightning appeared.

"Eidolons? No... you're using a forbidden art!" Marcella yelled as she backed away from the sparks. After the sparks disappeared, the God of lightning took it's place.

"Show them what you're made of." Arystillia commanded and Ramuh raised his staff and sent bolts towards the girl. Marcella dodged quickly but fell on her face.

"Your fighting style is sloppy." Arystillia pointed out.

"Shut up!" Marcella cried, "I will kill you, Arystillia Rose Ladeia with my own two hands!" she pulled out her second odachi blade and started slashing with both blades. Those two blades were the blades that left scars all over Arystillia's upper arm during their final time of sparring.

_"What do you mean by you can't be around me anymore? I thought you promised me that we would be friends to the end." Arystillia asked with disbelief._

_ "My parents found out about you being a l'Cie." Marcella said, trying to hide the fact that she was lying but Arystillia saw it in her eyes._

_ "Y-You're lying!" Arystillia yelled, anger thick in her voice._

_ "I'm surprised you figured it out." Marcella snickered._

_ "Your parents already knew I was a l'Cie that was destined to protect this tribe for my whole life time. Why are you doing this?" Arystillia asked._

_ "You took away all of our freedom when you were born. We don't need more l'Cie ruling this tribe. A bunch of people want your parents dead because we don't want l'Cie ruling over us." Marcella explained._

_ "Pathetic excuse." Arystillia deadpanned as she reached behind her for her staff. Marcella saw what she was doing and pulled out her odachi blades and charged towards Arystillia. The blue haired woman pulled out her staff and it transformed into a lance. The green haired girl swung the blades at her but Arystillia merely blocked it with her lance. _

_ "You bitch!" Marcella shouted and started quickly slashing at Arystillia. Arystillia blocked most of them but some managed to get her arm. The wounds would stop bleeding and heal but the damage was done and pain would never go away. Arystillia had lost her friend, someone she trusted dearly._

"I know, since I can't kill you, I'll just have to kill your friends instead so that you can give up and join them in hell!" Marcella stated while turning and aiming her blades at Lightning.

"You're wishing for your own death." Lightning bluntly stated and turned her gunblade into a gun. She shot at the girl but the bullet went through her.

"No..." Arystillia said in disbelief.

"What?" Lightning asked, slightly confused.

"Run!" Arystillia shouted at Lightning but she was too late. Right in front of Arystillia's eyes, Lightning was knocked into midair with one of Marcella's blades. After Lightning fell to the ground, Marcella charged towards Hope. _No, anyone but Hope, _Arystillia pleaded in her head. Right when Marcella got to Hope , Arystillia did a backflip and skidded over to Hope and Marcella.

"I am not going to let you lay a finger on him. You want me dead, then go ahead,do your worse." Arystillia told the other girl. Marcella smiled evilly and lifted one blade. She was going to strike down on Arystillia when all of a sudden, memories of the days when Arystillia and her were still friends appeared in front of her eyes. Memories of her getting ambushed by behemoths and Arystillia jumped in the way and got attacked instead, memories of her laughing with Arystillia, memories of when Arystillia gave her a bracelet that matched her hair and eyes, memories of when Arystillia collapsed and she came running towards her, and last of all, memories of when she betrayed Arystillia. Marcella dropped her blades and fell to her knees.

"What? You aren't going to kill me?" Arystillia asked. Marcella didn't responded. Hope took this as an oppurtunity to rush over to Lightning and heal her. He summoned a Curaja spell and cast it on the limp female body. After a few tries, Lightning began to move slightly and Hope sighed out of relief

"Why didn't you kill me when you had to open chance to?" Arystillia asked as she pointed her lance at Marcella, "I asked you, why didn't you kill me when you could have?"

"I can't..." Marcella whispered.

"Why not? Do you regret what have done? Do you wish that you could re-live your life again? Do you wish that you could right the wrongs that you have done? Do you know what it's like to live with self regret? Do you know what it's like to live and wish that you could die and start your life over? Do you?!" Arystillia asked, gripping the handle of her lance tightly. Marcella remained silent.

"Well I have! Every single day, I regret making people suffer because of me. I regret the things that I have done wrong. Hell, I regret even living." Arystillia voiced her emotions, "The only reason I keep living is because I have a sister that I care for. I promised her that I will always be there for her and even I couldn't achieve that. I let her down and I broke our promise. I can never look at her again without regrets floating through my mind like an endless whirlwind of emotions." Marcella's sapphire blue eyes widened when she heard what Arystillia said. _How come I was so foolish to never realize what Arystillia was going through? _Marcella asked herself.

"Hah, why would you even care? You were never born into a l'Cie family. You had a happy family. A loving mother and a loving father. All I ever had was my sister, my father was too busy and after he died, my mother no longer showed any affection. And when I met you, I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could have another person to rely on but no, even you betrayed me. I was lost... I had lost myself to the sea of emotions... the Arystillia that was happy and had so much hope on the world was lost." Arystillia was on the verge of breaking down now. The wall that she had built to shield herself from her emotions over the last few centuries had finally crumbled. And for the first time after she had awoken from crystal stasis, she felt vulnerable. Marcella placed a hand on Arystillia's lance and looked up at the owner of it.

"I..." she began.

"No, save your breath. It's too late to ask for forgiveness now.." Arystillia spoke, her voice cracking and she turned in the other direction. Marcella got up and slowly walked closer towards her former friend. She placed her arms on the other girls arms but her arms went right through her. A tear slipped her eyes. And then, like rain, even more fell.

"I'm stupid." Marcella managed say.

"Don't say that..." Arystillia whispered.

"I messed up your life..." Marcella spoke with regret.

"Stop." Arystillia choked out.

"No, I screwed up your life... I messed it all up. I was jealous that everyone respected you so much more... I wanted people to respect me like how they did to you... I didn't know what I was doing... I know sorry won't cut it but it's the least I could do..." Marcella said as she slowly faded away. It wasn't revenge that she wanted, it was forgiveness, "Until we meet again, my friend..." she whispered.

"Wait, no... don't go yet..." Arystillia reached out for her friend's hand but her hands slipped right through them.

"I'm sorry... thank you for giving such a good life... I'll miss you... Don't forget me, Ary..." Marcella voiced her goodbyes. At the mention of the name Ary, Arystillia broke down in tears. Hope rushed over to her and hugged her tightly.

"I won't forget you, ever. This is a promise that I will not break..." Arystillia whispered as the tears fell down her cheeks, "Thank you..." she rested her head into Hope's hair and hugged him back while Lightning stood in the background. She was happy for them but she didn't want to tell them. And most of all, she felt bad for Arystillia. _That poor girl_, Lightning thought.

_Hey, guess what? I saw Marcella again. At first I was pissed at her but then after telling her everything, she managed to gain my forgiveness. Now her soul can rest with the rest of our people. I really miss you, Nathalia..._


	8. Chapter 7: Arguments over the Past

**Author's Note: Arystillia used to love someone who looked a lot like Hope but now, in her dreams at times, her comes back and taunts her. Will she ever find happiness? In case no one has figured it out, Arystillia and Hope are meant to be a couple but not at the beginning since he's still so young. Lightning ruining the moment is how I am with my friends when anyone gets lovey-dovey with each other so don't mind it. This story is actually progressing. Omg! I never actually believed I would actually get this far. As for reviews and views rate recently, I've been noticing a major drop. Is it because I don't update much or is it because my writing style is boring? I would like to know so I can improve. Thanks a lot for baring with me. I'll be updating a lot since I don't go back to school until Monday due to thanksgiving break. How has everyone's Thanksgiving been going? Ok, I'm going to stop distracting you readers from reading. Please review?**

* * *

"I am getting tired of fighting these behemoths." Arystillia complained.

"Well, get used to it." Lightning bluntly replied. Arystillia sighed and struck her lance into one of the behemoth's legs.

"It's just one after the other. Are the just eager to die?" Arystillia asked as she pulled her lance out and the behemoth cried out in pain. She shook the beast's blood onto the ground but a few drops landed on Lightning's arms.

"Hey, watch where you shake that stick of yours." Lightning snapped. Arystillia grumbled and charged at the main body of the beast.

"How do you even fight with a lance?" Hope asked as Arystillia pulled her weapon out and turned it to a staff. She used it to cast a series of spells on it, first staring off with Firaga, then Blizzaga, then Thundaga, then Waterga, and finally Aeroga.

"It takes a lot of practice and fail attempts. I got yelled at by my instructor a million times each time I missed a target." Arystillia told the younger boy and he looked down in defeat, "If I were you, I would stick to that boomerang because I doubt you would be able to wield it."

"Enough chitchat you two. Focus on the target." Lightning broke their conversation. Arystillia spun her staff in her hand a few times and turned it back to a lance. Lightning jumped up into midair and started slashing at the behemoth. Arystillia joined in but instead of just slashing the monster with normal attacks, she used magic slashes. Mostly Sparkstrike since that one was the most effective. After a couple of launches, the behemoth fell to the ground and stopped moving.

"Please tell me that was the last behemoth we'll be fighting." Arystillia said.

"Not sure about that but there's something up ahead." Lightning stated the obvious. Arystillia gripped her weapon tightly as they started to go towards the object up ahead. It was a platform and it seemed to go up, most likely to the top floor. The sinking feeling that Arystillia felt when they first got here came back again and the closer they go to the platform, the stronger the feeling got.

"Finally, we're going to get this over with." Arystillia said as she got onto the platform, along with Lightning and Hope.

"That doesn't mean it's the end of our fight. We still have our brands." Lightning quickly cut off Arystillia's hope. _Such a killjoy, _Arystillia thought. The platform finally stopped moving and as they were moving off the platform, a massive beast came towards them.

"What the hell is that thing?" Arystillia asked, shocked.

"Pulse Armament." Lightning responded as she drew out her blade.

"Another one?" Arystillia asked as she pulled out her staff and it transformed into a lance.

"This is it. Operation Nora!" Hope yelled as he pulled out his boomerang and ran towards the monster.

"After this, we'll be in Palumpolom right?" Arystillia asked.

"You sure know your places on Cocoon." Lightning remarked.

"I'm not stupid, you know." Arystillia retorted and got a scoff in response.

"Damn. These people are really going after the meat aren't they?" Arystillia asked as she slashed at the monster with her lance. The monster started heading towards Hope and tried to hurt him but Arystillia didn't allow that to happen. She quickly charged towards it, swept her lance on the ground in a circle and swung it at the beast, sending it into the air. She jumped and kept slashing at it as Lightning shot at it from the ground. _No one or nothing will ever hurt Hope. If any of them do, I'll make sure they go straight to hell, _Arystillia cursed the foul beings in her mind.

"You're asking for your own grave!" Arystillia shouted as she stabbed the beast with her lance and as she fell back down to the ground, she dragged her lance as it was lodged in the beast down with her, causing the beast to cry out in pain. She spun and then pulled her weapon out so quick that neither Lightning or Hope saw it. She turned her lance back into a staff and cast a bunch of spells on it, making sure it was dead.

"You took on that whole thing by yourself." Hope spoke in disbelief.

"It wasn't that difficult." Arystillia told him, "By the way, what was the name of that Pulse Armament because I am positive I have seen it in my past."

"I believed it is the 'Aster ProtoFlorian."' Lightning told her.

"Hmmm, odd." Arystillia mumbled as she stretched and placed her weapon back in it's carrier.

"What's odd?" Hope asked. Arystillia looked down and bit her bottom lip befor shaking her head.

"N-Nothing..." Arystillia responded, still avoiding his eyes.

"If it's bugging you, then you can tell me." Hope said, reassuring her.

"Thanks but Lightning will think it's a stupid reason to get upset over." Arystillia told the younger boy. Lightning glared at her before turning away.

"I won't listen." Lightning deadpanned. Arystillia took a shaky breath and then looked back up to meet Hope's worried green eyes. _Why do his eyes remind me so much of his? _Arystillia asked herself.

"Back then, long ago in my past, I used to know someone that was very important to me but I can't remember his name no matter how hard I try. He was very kind to me and treated me like I was everything to him. I loved him but I didn't want to marry him because I knew that one day, he would end up dying before me... One day, he went out hunting with a crew of hunters in my tribe and when they came back, he was no where to be found. I was devastated... I told my sister to come with me and we went out looking for him. To my own horror, I saw him lying in the pass to Paddra, lifeless. I was so angered by the fact that I wanted to go find the monster responsible for that.

It wasn't long before I came across a monster that looked identical to the monster we just fought. I was desperate that I wanted to full on kill the monster but I knew I couldn't. The hunters went out again a couple of weeks later and none of them returned..." Arystillia told the younger boy about her past experiences, " And the worst thing is, he looked almost identical to you, Hope. Except that he was older... I keep trying to forget him but he keeps coming back and taunting me about how I never saved him and how he was stupid to fall in love with me... "

"So that's why you protect me? Because I look like someone you love? Is that the reason why you treat me this?! If that's so, then I don't want to talk to you again!" Hope yelled at the older woman.

"Hope..." Arystillia began.

"No! I hate people like you! People who see someone they loved when they see someone else! I can't believed I was fooled to actually trust in you. You never cared for me! You're only using me for comfort!" He spoke hurtful words to her. Arystillia only stared back in horror as her eyes became more and more drowned in sorrow.

"No, you're wrong..." Arystillia whispered.

"What am I wrong about? Isn't it obvious that you don't truly care for me?" Hope asked, still angry.

"Stop! You're so stupid! Can't you see that I'm trying to forget him? He's in the past, Hope! I really care about you. I couldn't protect anyone dear to me so I'll protect you to atone for what I've done? What do you know about me? All you want to do is kill Snow to get your revenge but do you even realize how many people would hate you for that? What would your mother think of yo-" Arystillia argued back but he cut her off.

"Don't mention my mother!" He yelled.

"I don't care if it hurts you! I am going to speak the truth! Your mother and father would be disappointed in you if you killed Snow! Hell, even Light would be disappointed in you. And you want to know why? Because when you kill someone, you'll feel guilty for the rest of your life! I know because I was forced to kill one of my friends in my past!

Every time I look at my hands, I can't help but see her blood on my hands, no matter how much I wash them. I don't want you to bear the same guilt that I do! I was only forced to kill her because she was a l'Cie and her Focus was to kill off the leaders of my tribe so she begged me to kill her since she would rather die than become a Cie'th! Hope Estheim, I truly care for you and I don't want you to have someone's death on your conscience, so please... Don't kill him..." Arystillia begged him as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"I can't promise you that I won't kill him..." Hope told her.

"But why?" she asked as her voiced cracked.

"He killed my mother..." he responded. Arystillia wiped away her tears before pulling the young boy into a hug, running her fingers through his hair.

"Don't be afraid to face reality..." she spoke with a hushed tone. Hope didn't understand what she meant.

"Is your guys love scene over yet?" Lightning asked as she returned.

"What the hell?" Arystillia asked and gained a smirk back as a response.

"Let's head to Palumpolum." she told the crew. Arystillia nodded and gestured for Hope to follow her.

_Boy, today was hectic. I got into a ridiculous argument with Hope over nothing. That poor boy. But I think he shouldn't kill Snow. I can't change his mind so I'll see what Lightning has to say. I wish you were here since you're good at convincing people and giving advice._


	9. Chapter 8: Who am I, Really?

**Author's Note: I am sorry for not updating. I have school and we're finally going to begin our finals soon so I have to study my butt off. I hope you guys enjoy and that you know that I don't own Square Enix because if I did, then Lightning and Cid would be cannon and Serah never died. Also, Caius would never die either...  
**

* * *

After walking in silence, the trio finally made it to Hope's hometown, Palumpolum.

"How does it feel to finally be home again?" Lightning asked Hope.

"L'Cie don't have a home." Hope responded.

"What do you mean?" Arystillia asked, quietly. Before Hope even got a chance to respond to her, they all caught a glimpse of PSICOM and Guardian Corps soldiers around the area.

"They really are hot on our trail." Arystillia hissed as she pulled out her staff and had it turn into a lance so that if they struck, she would be ready.

"I know of way to get around them. I used to play in them when I was younger, its through the pipes." Hope mentioned.

"Ok, you lead the way but stay on guard since the army can strike whenever they want." Lightning warned.

"If anyone comes near us, I'll cut them down." Arystilla told the crew.

"Don't be so full of yourself." Lightning deadpanned.

"I'm not being full of myself, Ms. I-am-boss-here-and-you-listen-to-what-I-say-or-else." Arystillia retorted while rolling her eyes.

"Says the one who cries like a baby." Lightning snorted while smirking.

"At least my summon isn't a horse. What are you, Light? Some fairy tale princess?" Arystillia sassed. Lightning crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Coming from the one who's summon turns into a bird." Lightning retorted. Arystillia sighed and turned away from her leader.

"Break it up you two. We don't have time for useless bickering." Hope butted in.

"Ugh, whatever!" the two girls yelled at the same time, then looked at each other and glared.

"And you call me the kid." Hope sighed before continuing onwards. Right when they were about to head towards the tunnels, they were stopped by 10 PSICOM soldiers.

"Freeze!" one of them shouted before Arystillia knocked him to the ground and kicked up his gun and held onto it, hand on the trigger.

"Got any last words?" Arystillia asked, aiming the gun at the fallen soldier.

"Please don't kill me. I have a wife and two kids that are waiting for me. Plea-" he pleaded but Arystillia cut him off.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you aimed you gun at us." Arystillia kept the gun aimed at him, lance in her other hand.

"Arystillia. Stop it." Hope told her.

"And let him kill you? I think not." she told the boy and glanced over at Lightning who was cutting up the soldiers with her blade.

_I could see the fear in his eyes but I don't know what overcame me, it was like something told me to kill him. My hand was already on the trigger so I thought why don't just end it? When I saw his eyes, I remembered when I had to kill my friend, how she begged me too. I couldn't witness another death._

The blue haired woman shot the man in the arm and let the gun drop from her hand.

"I'll let you off easy this time but if you ever come back and start trouble, I will kill you." she said before falling to her knees. Hope rushed over to her and shook her shoulders slightly. She didn't respond to him.

"Arystillia. Arystillia, snap out of it." he called out to her.

_Murderer, grief, kill, blood, murderer...murderer... I'm a murderer..._

"Arystillia!" his final call snapped her out of it.

"W-what's wrong?" she asked.

"We're moving." he told her. Arystillia shook her head.

"Leave me here." she pleaded. Hope's eyes widened as he looked at the woman before him.

"What?" he barely spoke.

"Leave me here. I'll just get you guys killed. Just go and leave me here to die. I deserve it after what I have done..." Arystillia told the boy.

"No. Not after what we've been through." Hope told her.

"But why? Do you want to die?" Arystillia asked. Lightning heard what was going on and walked right over to Arystillia.

"Do you want to die?" she asked back.

"Maybe. After what I've done." she replied and got a slap to the face in return which knocked her over. _Damn, did Lightning's slaps hurt. _

"You're an idiot if you think I'm just going to let you die! Since when did you give up? You always told us to never give up so I'm not going to let you give up. You are one of us now and we all stick together, related or not. I don't care if you killed someone in your past and you think you're a murderer, you are staying with us. Your sister would have never thought of you as a murderer. You wanna know why? Because she loves you! We all do... even if some don't show it." Lightning scolded the other girl.

"Light's right. We all love you. You've always been so kind to us and you showed us what having hope is like." Hope added. A few tears fell Arystillia's eyes as she let the words slowly sink in. _Did they really care for someone like her? Someone who causes trouble for everyone? Why would they? Why am I so special? _Arystillia couldn't stop the questions from racing across her mind.

"Get up and show us that you really are a fighter and not a wimp." Lightning demanded. _Jeez, does she always have to be so harsh? _Arystillia questioned. She slowly got up and stood on her two legs, weapon held firmly in her hand. The blue haired woman brushed some dirt from her outfit and slightly rubbed the place where Lightning slapped her.

"Now what?" Arystillia asked, regaining her usual attitude.

"We move onwards." Lightning replied as she walked past Arystillia but stopped when she got to the other femal, "Be careful, you don't know who can be watching." she whispers to her.

"I know... and Light, thanks." Arystillia thanked the pink haired soldier. Lightning gave a light nod before heading in the direction towards the tunnels.

_I'm weak and vulnerable. I can't do anything on my own anymore... I'm just not the same as I ever was... Why? Why?! Why can't I even prove to Lightning that I am strong and not some weak girl that needs to be protected? If you can hear me Nathalia, please tell explain to me what this damned feeling is about!_

Arystillia walked with the crew but kept her distance since she was still doubting herself.

"You've been incredibly silent." Hope spoke up. Arystillia quickly looked up and met Hope's green eyes.

"It's nothing." the blue haired woman responded, quickly avoiding his eyes.

"Don't say 'it's nothing' when it's not." Hope mumbled.

"You're too young to understand." she responded bluntly and started to walk ahead towards Lightning when she felt him grab her wrist.

"Why is it that everyone thinks that just because I'm young, I don't know anything?" Hope asked as his green eyes stared straight into her purple eyes. That's when she saw his built up emotions; Anger, hatred, sorrow, sadness, and pain. _Those emotions, I've seen them somewhere before... _she thought, _poor boy, he shouldn't be suffering through this... he shouldn't have even been a l'Cie...it's all my fault... it's always my fault..._

* * *

_"Don't blame yourself..." came a few familiar voices._

_ "What? Who are you guys?" Arystillia asked._

_ "Jeez, sis. Couldn't believe that you can't even recognize me or mom's voice." came one of the voices. _

_ "Nathalia? Mother? Then who's the final voice?" Arystillia asked._

_ "It's me, Ary." came the final voice. _

_ "M-Mar?"Arystillia asked._

_ "Yes. We're all here to tell you that you shouldn't blame yourself for what has happened to us." Marcella told the blue haired girl, "I don't mind that I died... at least, in the end, you forgave me and that was all I wanted."_

_ "You'll see me again one day, sis. That's a promised that I won't break." Nathalia told her sister, "Mom?"_

_ "My daughter, don't blame yourself for what happened to me. My death was inevitable. I decided to become leader even when I knew the risk." her mother told her._

* * *

Arystillia's purple eyes filled with tears as she tried to blink them back. _Why are they so forgiving?_

"Hope... I'm sorry... I know how you fe-" Arystilia apologized but he cut her off.

"No! You don't understand anything! Your mom didn't die before your eyes! The only one I ever cared for... gone... she's never coming back again..." Hope's voice cracked as he spoke. Arystillia placed a finger to lips and shook her head.

"You don't have to talk if hurts you too much..." Arystillia spoke in her hushed tone.

"I have no family left..." Hope said.

"Don't you have a father?" Arystillia asked.

"Yeah, but he never cared for me..." Hope responded.

"You don't know that... he has to be worried about you." Arystillia gently ran her hand through his unrurly hair, pulling him into a warm embrace. She felt something warm on her shoulder before she realized that the boy was crying. She rested her face into his hair and smiled.

"It'll be alright, I promise you." she spoke, muffled by his hair. At that moment, Lightning returned after wiping out some more army members.

"Alright let's g-" she began before she saw the scene before her, "what's the matter?" Arystillia looked and placed a finger in front her, gesturing for Lightning to be quiet. _Am I going to have to put up with this the whole journey? _Lightning asked herself, _this is going to be a long journey but I shouldn't be complaining. I'm happy for them... wait what I am I thinking?_

_ Thank you, Mother, Nathalia, and Marcella. You guys have opened my eyes again and given me the hope I need to keep moving onwards._


	10. Chapter 9: Lightning's Story

**Author's Note: A Ligtning centered chapter because I love her and I got the idea for flashbacks when I saw a picture of young Serah and Claire. Also, the idea of using the Promise as a lullaby came from a fanfic I read. I don't remember who though. Enjoy!  
**

_Seeing Hope and Arystillia argue like that reminds me of how Serah and I use to argue over stupid things and then make up over her crying, _Lightning thought as she walked ahead of the two, _what was I thinking? Shutting my sister out like that? _Lightning facepalmed and sighed.

"What's the matter, Light?" Arystillia asked.

"Nothing." Lightning responded. _Such a curious girl, always trying to get into my buisness but I guess that's why she reminds me so much of Serah. Why am I comparing her to Serah? _Lightning thought as she kept walking.

"We're here in the tunnels. This way we can avoid the soldiers." Hope told the crew.

"Alright, lead the way." Arystillia smiled at the younger boy. Hope nodded and walked ahead of the crew. _He's just like her, always taking responsibility when others can't. Damn it, Lightning! Stop thinking about this crap! _Lightning mentally beat herself up, _I just can't believe that Serah, my only family left was taken away from me by that damned fal'Cie and then it turns us into it's slaves. _Lightning kept walking, continuing to be quiet, more quiet than usual. Usually, she would join in on a conversation and say a few words but this time, she was purposely ignoring the world and focusing on how she missed her sister.

* * *

_"Claire. Serah. Stop jumping around so much or I can't get your shoes on." her mother spoke in a calm but scolding tone._

_ "But mom, we want to go now." Claire and Serah whined._

_ "If you keep moving around then it will take longer." their mother told them. Claire pouted while Serah gave up on squirming around._

_ "Okay, mommy." Serah told her mother in her innocent tone. _

_ "Good girl. Now let mommy get your shoes on." her mother smiled and helped Serah put on her shoes, "Now's your turn, Claire." Claire walked over to her mom and she put her shoes on._

_ "Now can we go?" Claire asked her mother._

_ "Yes. Let's go." her mother responded and opened the front door. They were going to a flower field by the seaside town of Bodhum on Cocoon. It was said to be one of the most beautiful fields ever and the three of them were lucky enough to live nearby so they were able to visit whenever. The two girls quickly rushed out of the house and skipped their way to the flower field._

_ "Hey sis?" Serah asked her sister._

_ "What is it, Serah?" Claire responded._

_ "Why can't I wear my hair like you? To the side like yours?" Serah asked, tilting her head to the side._

_ "Silly, it's because it's too short. You will be able to one day." Claire told her sister with a smile._

_ "Promise me?" Serah asked._

_ "Promise." Claire responded. Serah jumped up and down and hugged onto her sister with happiness._

_ "Don't go to far ahead or you might get lost." their mother warned. _

_ "Okay, mom." Claire responded as they reached the flower field._

_ "It's sooooo pretty!" Serah exclaimed as she ran ahead and twirled around in the flowers._

_ "Serah! Hold on!" Claire shouted towards her sister as she ran to join her. They both twirled around in the flowers, holding onto each others arms and giggling._

_ "Be careful, you two." their mother told them before sitting down and setting up their picnic, "when you two are hungry, let me know."_

_ "Okay, mommy!" they both exclaimed with joy as they ran around in the flowers. After a while of running, Claire got tired and plopped down in the flowers so Serah stopped and sat with her sister._

_ "It's so pretty here." Claire told her sister. Serah nodded and smiled. They both wished that this day would never end since it was so beautiful. _

_ "Hey, Serah? Turn over here for a minute." Claire told her sister after about 10 minutes._

_ "Huh? What is it?" Serah responded before she felt somthing put on her head._

_ "There you go. I made you a flower crown." Claire responded._

_ "Really? Yay!" Serah exclaimed before pouting, "I want Claire to be pretty too!" _

_ "Ok, fine. I'll make myself one." Claire told her sister as she picked a few flowers and started assembling a crown. After 10 minutes, Claire finished and showed Serah._

_ "There. I'm done." Claire spoke._

_ "I want to put it on you! Please?" Serah begged._

_ "Okay." Claire gave in and Serah put the crown on her sister's head._

_ "Now we're matching!" Serah exclaimed before smiling really wide," I wanna learn how to make one so we each give mom one!"_

_ "Okay, it's going to be difficult. I warned you." Claire said before poking her sister playfully in the check. Serah puffed up and cheeks and pouted._

_ "I don't care if it's difficult. I'll learn!" Serah whined. The two pink haired siblings worked on making flower crowns until the afternoon when they were both done. Claire's flower crown was neat and tidy while Serah's was sloppy. Serah's eyes filled with tears._

_ "It's not good like yours!" Serah pouted._

_ "It's alright. With practice, you'll be even better than me one day." Claire reassured her sister._

_ "Really? Claire, you're the best sister ever!" Serah shouted with joy before getting up, "Let's go give these to mom. I'm sure she'll love it." Claire got up slowly before meeting up with her sister. The two girls ran towards their mother and gave her the two crowns._

_ "Did you guys these?" their mother asked. _

_ "Yup! And Claire taught me how to make one!" Serah told her mother with joy._

_ "I love them." their mother spoke with a smile. The two sisters smiled widely before hugging their mother._

* * *

Lightning sighed. _Why am I remembering this? That was right before mom died. Our last happy moment. Why the gods have to be so cruel and take her away from Serah and I? Did we do something wrong? _Lightning questioned herself, _What would mom do if she saw how we've turned out to be? Would she be happy or would she be disappointed that I shut out my own younger sister?_

* * *

_"Claire! Claire! What's wrong with mom?" Serah asked, tears in her eyes as Claire and her walked to the hospital nearby. She didn't respond to her younger sister's question but kept her eyes focused on the hospital. They were coming home from school that day when a nearby neighbor told her that they saw their mother being taken out on a gurney by some nurses. Claire didn't even bother to go home, she just grabbed Serah's arm and they both rushed to the hospital. _

_ "Claire? What's wrong?" Serah asked her silent sister. Claire sighed, a tear rolled down her cheeks._

_ "I'm scared, Serah. I'm scared for mom's sake." Claire responded as they kept walking. Serah was sniffling as her olders sister tried to keep a tough face on, to hide that she felt scared. They finally reached the hospital and they went to the front desk. Claire gave out the information needed the front desk lady gave them the room number. The two girls hurried to her mother's room. Claire didn't want to believe that her mother was slowly dying on this hospital bed._

_ "You're here." their mother spoke, softly. Claire rushed over to her mother and held onto her hand._

_ "Mom..." Claire spoke._

_ "Save it. Don't waste your time babbling over nonsense like you always do." her mother cut her off._

_ "B-But-" she tried to protest._

_ "No buts. Stop being stubborn like your father. That one thing that pissed me off about him." her mother spoke, hinting a faint smile. Serah ran over to her sister and kneeled down before her._

_ "Serah. You have to start looking after yourself more. Sometimes, Lightning or I can't be there to protect you." her mother whispered as she ran a hand through Serah's hair, periodically stopping at the curls._

_ "Mom. I love you." Serah mumbled, choking back the tears the threatened to spill over._

_ "I love you too, my dear sweethearts." her mother smiled faintly and Serah's tears fell from her aqua eyes as she looked at her mother._

_ "Don't cry, Serah. There's no reason to." her mother reassured her. Claire could feel her own tears threatening to spill over but she couldn't cry, no she had to be strong for Serah._

_ "Claire. I know that you are only fifteen but I want you to start looking after Serah more. Protect her from anyone that tries to harm her. And protect her from...the lightning that strikes during storms." her mother told her. Claire nodded before looking down at the ground, her vision blurring from the tears. She felt a gentle but frail hand on the top of her head._

_ "Remember the day in the flower field when you guys made me the flower crowns? That was my most happy day ever since your father died. I actually got a picture of you and Serah in the field, if you want to look at it, it's in my room on the dresser along with the two dried up flower crowns." her mother whispered as she gently stroked Claire's cheeks that were tear stained._

_ "Mom..." Claire said as she put her hand on her mother's hand, "I love you...and I'll never stop loving you..."_

_ "That's good to hear..." her mother spoke._

_ "Can you sing me that lullaby that you always sang to us when we were little?" Claire asked. Her mother smiled and nodded. She took a shaky breath and then opened her mouth._

_ "Make my wish come true, let darkness fade to light. Show me there's still hope, show me it's not over..." her mother began singing when Claire and Serah joined in, voices cracking._

_ "Battles we can win, our struggles lies within. Will we live to great the dawn? Love will not leave you, hate will not leave you. Promise me one day that peace shall reign..." the three of them sang. Their mother's eyes closed and her hand went limp._

_ "Mom? Mom?! No, please! Mom!" Claire called out to her dead mother, tears falling from her eyes and landing on her mother's arm. She felt an arm around her and looked over to see Serah's eyes all red and puffy while tears kept falling from them._

* * *

_ Dammit, Lightning!_ Lightning cursed in her head, _Mom... I'll always love you..._

* * *

_ It was the middle of the night when Claire heard her door open. Her eyes quickly opened and saw her younger sister standing there, teary eyed._

_ "What's wrong, Serah?" Claire asked as she got up from her bed._

_ "I'm scared." Serah responded, holding tightly to a moogle doll that her sister got her for her birthday._

_ "Scared of what?" Claire asked. Just then, a flash of lightning appeared and Serah quickly ran over to Claire and held onto her._

_ "The lightning, isn't it?" Claire asked. Serah nodded as she cried into Claire's shoulder. Claire gently rubbed Serah's back and waited until Serah calmed down._

_ "Can I sleep with you tonight, please?" Serah asked. Claire stared for a bit before nodding. Serah got onto the bed with Lightning and lied down with her. She snuggled close to her older sister, sniffling._

_ "Hey, Serah? You're afraid of lightning right?" Claire asked. Serah nodded._

_ "Well, why don't you call me Lightning?" Claire told her sister._

_ "What?" Serah asked._

_ "Think of it like this. When you see the lightning, just imagine me. When it flashes, it shows that I'm looking out for you. You're not afraid of me, right?" Claire asked. Serah shook her head._

_ "So then, call me Lightning and you won't have to be afraid anymore." Claire told her._

_ "Okay, Lightning." Serah said with a quivering smile._

_ "See? You're already doing better." Cliare told her._

_ And that's how I became Lightning. It flashes bright then fades away, it can't protect it only destroys, _Lightning thought, _I lied to Serah, I told her that I would always protect her but I couldn't even protect her from becoming a l'Cie._

* * *

" Hey, Light. You okay? You've been awfully silent." Arystillia asked.

"Yea. Perfectly fine." Lightning responded as she caught up and they continued on their journey through the tunnels of Palumpolum.


	11. Chapter 10: Reunion in Palumpolum

**Author's Note: Most of this story takes place in the Nutriculex area or whatever with the fal'Cie Carbuncle, and then a reunion with Snow and the one pulsian woman that I like either than Lightning, Fang! YAY! Enojoy this chapter. I might not be able to update this week due to school.**

* * *

"What is this place?" Arystillia asked as they reached an area underground.

"This is where all the food of Cocoon is produced. And this is the fal'Cie Carbuncle, the one that creates all the food." Hope responded.

"This place is massive..." Arystillia whispered as they continued walking.

"It doesn't seem like _Pulse _l'Cie are welcomed here." Lightning stated as a giant flan came our way.

"Ugh, what are these blobs doing here?" Arystillia asked, annoyed as she pulled out her weapon.

"Looks like they're the patrol." Hope mumbled as he pulled out his boomerang. Arystillia glared at the monster, weapon turned into lance in her left hand as she held her right arm out in front of her, summoning a spell but no one could predict which spell. Then Hope saw a red glow appear on her hand and he knew what she was going to summon, _Firaga. _A fire ball was sent at the flanitor, first looking like a small fire ball before exploding into a massive fire. The flanitor flinched and fell over.

"It's staggered! Get it, Lightning!" Arystillia shouted as Lightning used Blitz on it, sending a wave of attacks at it, launching it into the air. Her weapon transformed into a gun and she shot it right at it's weak spot, the siren on it's head. The blob fell onto the ground and exploded into a billion green bits before disappearing. Lightning did a back flip and landed on both of her feet, a feet away from the crew

"Ew, that was gross." Arystillia complained as she picked off bits of green blobs of her weapon. She quickly scanned the area and saw more Flanitors patrolling the area.

"Great." she sighed and hung her head in defeat.

"Get used to fighting them." Lightning said with a bored tone. The continued their way, using platforms to move around. On their way to their destination, they came across a monster that looked very odd.

"What is that thing?" Arystillia asked.

"Lucidon." Lightning responded, bluntly.

"The monsters keep getting weirder and weirder." Arystillia muttered as she got her weapon out and it transformed into a lance.

"When it has it's protective shell on, it's immune to almost everything so the best thing to do is to try and stagger it quickly." Lightning instructed.

"Easier said than done." Arystillia mumbled as she summoned a Thundara spell while Lightning started swing her blade towards the monster, barely making a dent in it's armor.

"You wanna play hard? Well you're asking for you're own death!" Lightning shouted as she started switching between slashes and shots with her weapon while Arystillia occasionally swung her lance at the monster but most of the time was using magic instead. Hope would send out Cura spells when needed but most of the time, he was using Thundara and Thunder to try and quickly stagger the monster.

"This shell or whatever it's called is a pain in the ass!" Arystillia swore as she summoned Firaga, Thundaga, Waterga, Blizzaga, and Aeroga at the monster which quickly staggered it and penetrated it's armor. Lightning saw the oppurtunity to quickly launch the monster into the air and just keep slashing at it while her other two partners would use their spells to end this battle. The pink haired soldier charged at the monster and launched it into the air, slashing at the now "naked" monster. Arystillia leapt into the air and used a chain of Sparkstrikes on the monster because sometimes, that's just better than using plain magic while Hope kept chaining Thunder and Thundara spells.

"And here I thought that Flanitors are gross." Arystillia mumbled, "Hah, this thing thinks we're his lunch, cute." she said, sarcastically.

"If he thinks that we're his lunch, does that mean that he thinks Hope is dessert?" Lightning remarked with a hint of a joke in it.

"Probably. But he'll be dead before he gets a chance." Arystillia said before throwing her weapon in the air and doing a back flip which kicked the weapon away as it fell down from the sky above and hit the beast. The beast roared in pain before falling over and was no longer moving. The trio went to their destination which was the platform in front of them.

"Look at us: Pulse l'Cie, using a Sanctum fal'CIe to tell us where we're going. Sort of strange." Hope remarked.

"Not really." Lightning replied as the three of them kept walking, "We've relied on them our whole lives. The food we eat, the light and water, it's all from the fal'Cie. You know, I think Cocoon was really built for them. The rest of us, we're just leeches. Parasites."

"You think?" Hope asked before continuing, " They protect us, nurture us. They take care of, well, normal people. They treat us like we're special, almost like..." he trailed off before turning over to Lightning and clapped his hands when he realized what he was going to say, "Like we're pets!" Lightning looked at him before widening her eyes a slight bit.

"Like pets." she stated with surprise in her voice and walked closer to Carbuncle, "To them, we are just pets. That's it. Now it makes sense." she clenched her hands in fists.

"I've been so blind. I was born into a fal'Cie world, raised on a fal'Cie leash. It was the only life I knew how to live. When it was taken from me, I was completely lost. Without a master to follow, my life had no purpose. Hope, listen to me. This l'Cie curse, it took everything away from me. My future. My dreams. I didn't want to think. So I fought instead. As long as I was fighting, nothing else was real. I was running away. And you two, Hope and Arystillia... you two got swept along with me." she said as she clenched one of her hands into a fist.

"But Lightning, I don't understand." Hope told her as his eyes meet her's. Arystillia stood there a bit shocked as she tried to let what Lightning says sink in. Lightning closed her eyes before opening them again.

"Operation Nora is over." she said in her usual calm tone. Hope looked at her, shocked.

"What?" he asked, disbelief in his voice.

"I..." she began but he shook his head.

"No!" he protested, head still shaking as Lightning gently shook her head," You told me to fight!"

"I made a mistake!" she shouted.

"But- you can't do this. You can't just build something up like that, then abandon me." he said as he started to walk in the opposite direction. Lightning walked over and cut off his path and place both hands on his shoulders.

"I won't abandon you." she stated, " I won't."

"Don't mind me cutting you off but we kinda need to get out of here." Arystillia butted in.

"R-Right..." he mumbled as Lightning took the lead. The three continued walking until they got to an area with a few stairs and Hope stopped walking.

"So what do we do now?" he asked. Lightning turned around a bit shocked before looking straight at him.

"We're l'Cie! Ticking time bombs. Enemies of Cocoon. If we can't follow the plan, do we just lay down and die?" he asked, a bit irritable.

"I didn't mean we should give up." Lightning replied, harshly.

"Then what battles do do we fight? And against who? Tell me that!" Hope snapped at her.

"I don't know yet." she responded, bluntly.

"You don't know yet?" he asked, raising his voice.

"That's right. I don't know yet. But I do know we can't lose hope." she replied. Hope walked over to the stairs and sat down.

"Hope? There is no hope. Not for l'Cie." he said, hanging his head in defeat.

"There's you." both Arystillia and Lightning said at the same time.

"It's my name, not who I am." he replied, not looking up.

"I was just like you. My parents died. I had to be strong for Serah, so I thought I needed to forget my past. And I became Lightning. I thought that by changing my name, I could change who I was. I was just a kid. Lightning. It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect. It only destroys." Lightning told Hope as she walked over to him and sat down.

"Serah tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen." Lightning said and remained silent until she saw a vision of Serah.

_"There you are." Serah said. _Lightning stood up and reached out to her.

_"If you really are a l'CIe, it's my job to deal with you." the past Lightning said._

_ "Typical." Serah mocked. _Lightning backed away and looked down.

"I threatened her." she spoke.

_"Come on, slowpoke!" Serah called out to Snow._

_ "Sorry. Got held up." he apologized in his confident voice._

_ "Where have you been?" Serah asked._

_ "I'm really late, huh?" he asked._

"The only one who believe her was Snow." she said.

"Don't say it!" Hope's voice snapped her back into reality, "Don't say his name. It brings everything back. I keep playing it in my head, what happened to her. And then I see his stupid face and... and... he's _smiling_. How can he smile when she's dead?" he said as Lightning tried to reach over and comfort him, "I know! There's nothing I can do about it. I hate knowing that. No matter what happens, she's not coming back!" he said as his voice kept cracking. Lightning stared at him in disbelief.

"When I was fighting, there was no time to think about it. It felt good just to give in." he spoke as he looked at his l'Cie brand, "But now you start talking about hope..." his voice cracked a little more as Lightning stood up and walked over to Hope.

"I'm sorry. I'm messed up." he apologized as she put a hand on his l'Cie brand.

"No... it's my fault." she spoke.

"Hope... don't think that you're messed up. I'm sure that everyone has felt like you at one point. Even if it's not about getting revenge, it has to be about something that happened in your past." Arystillia spoke up as she moved closer to Lightning and Hope, "For me, its about that time when my friend beg me to kill her... I told her that I couldn't but she begged me. I wanted to ease her suffering but I couldn't... and now, I can hear her voice telling me that I should have just killed her without having to say to goodbye because she was nothing but a monster but then my sister, I don't know if it is her, she tells me that I should of just let her kill off our parents and she could have been alive until but..." Arystillia wanted to finish but she couldn't, it hurt too much.

"Let's get out of here. We're almost there." Lightning said as she gestured for them to follow. The blue haired woman and the silver haired boy followed their rose haired leader. They finally reached an elevator that would lead them out of here. As they walked, Hope glanced down at his l'Cie brand and then looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

"Talk to your dad." Lightning told the boy.

"What? Why?" he asked as the soldier girl went over to the panel and tried to activate it.

"Fighting without hope is no way to live." Lightning replied, "It's just a way to die." Hope looked down and then back up and sighed.

"I want you to find the hope you were named for." Lightning continued, "Staying alive, I can help you with. But I can't- I can't give you hope. If you go see to see your father..."

"You think meeting my dad will make anything better? He's never listened to a word I've said. He's just- he'll never believe all this l'Cie stuff." he told her and Lightning looked down as the elevator went up.

"Snow believed Serah, didn't he?" Hope asked.

"Yeah." Lightning replied. The rest of the ride up was quiet until they reached the surface. They heard a reported talking about fugitive l'CIe as they all looked around cautiously. PSICOM soldiers and other weapons were rushing over to them with their weapons armed.

"These are l'Cie. Show no mercy." came the voice of none other than Yaag Rosch, "They aren't people. They're targets." Lightning glared at the PSICOM people as Hope and Arystillia stood close to her.

"You two, start running. I'll keep 'em busy." Lightning commanded.

"But-!" Hope protested.

"You two have to survive." Lightning told them.

"No. Hope needs to survive. Not us." Arystillia told Lightning as she had her weapon in her hand. A big explosion was heard nearby and that shocked Hope. He lookd up to see PSICOM soldiers being thrown around as a large man appeared, punching them like there was no tomorrow. He kicked one of the soldiers and took his gun as a pulsian woman came running after him.

"That's some crowd. Gonna need a plan." the woman spoke in a Oerban accent.

"Since when have heroes ever needed plans?" Snow spoke with confidence. He summon his eidolith and threw it into the air before shooting at it, causing two woman like figures to appear, which caused a bunch of ice to appear and knocking out most of the soldiers. The two eidolons merged into a motorcycle as Snow tossed the gun at the pulsian and jumped onto it. The pulsian woman took this a cue for her to jump off so she did and landed on the motorcycle with a grunt. The rode down the ice track, shooting down any soldiers that got in their way.

"It's him!" Hope shouted as Lightning pulled him back and started shooting while Arystillia was aiming spells at the soldiers. The pulsian woman was shooting at Rosch' soldier which pissed him off so he kicked the recording device at her at which she eliminated immediately. Snow and the pulsian woman drove off the ice track, flew over Lightning, Hope, and Arystillia and landed a few feet away from them.

"Yeah!" Snow shouted. The other three slowly got up from their ducking positions to see Snow and the pulsian woman slowly stopping the bike.

"Lightning!" Snow called before winking and smirking at her. The two got off as Lightning lowered her weapon. She grabbed Hope's jacket collar and shoved him over to Snow.

"Take care of him." Lightning told him as Hope recovered from the shock,

"Lightning, listen to me!" Snow began when Lightning cut him off.

"Get moving!" Lightning shouted.

"No , you don't understand! Serah's all right! She'll turn back!" Snow protested. Lightning stayed silent as she raised her weapon back up, in gun mode.

"Take care of Hope!" she shouted before running off.

"Wait!" Snow protested before looking over to Arystillia, who just shot him a look.

"If anything happens to Hope, I will skin you alive. Got that?" she threatened as she did a backflip to catch up with Lightning. The pulsian woman ran over to Snow with a smirk.

"And then there were three." Fang stated before taking off after Lightning and Arystillia with a chuckle. The soldiers got back up as Snow got ready for fighting them.

"Bring it on!" he shouted as he pumped his two fists together.

_What the hell is going on nowadays? It feels like the worlds falling apart. Well I guess it technically is. I blame the Sanctum for causing the Purge. _


	12. Chapter 11: Hidden Truths

**Author's Note: I still hate Snow but don't exactly hate him... anymore. I don't know. Also I would like some reviews since it inspires me to write more, knowing that many people like it. I hope you guys enjoy. In case no one has noticed, this is an Alternate Universe fanfic meaning not everything will follow the storyline of Final Fantasy 13/13-2/Lightning Returns since I plan on including all of them. Blah, blah, blah. I should shut up now. Ok, enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

_I swear if anything happens to Hope, I won't hesitate to kill Snow for this, _Arystillia thought as she wandered through the streets of Palumpolum with Lightning and the Pulsian woman.

"What's you name?" Arystiilia asked, arms folded cross her chest.

"Loosen up, sunshine. The name's Fang. Oerba Yun Fang, that is." Fang introduced herself.

"Oerba? You mean from Gran Pulse?" Arystillia asked, unfolding her arms and placing one on her hip.

"Yep, I'm from Gran Pulse. Same as you." Fang snooted at which Arystillia glared at her.

"Keep that cocky attitude up and you'll be dead before you know what struck you." Arystillia hissed at she walked past Fang.

"Lighten up a lil' will ya?" Fang asked.

"Don't even bother with her. She's just pissed at Snow because of his arrogance, ignorance and foolishness." Lightning told the pulsian woman while rolling her eyes.

"Ahhh, and then she seemed to care for Hope and now he's with that blond fool. Makes sense now. What's you name, sunshine?" Fang asked the pink haired soldier.

"Do you always call everyone 'sunshine'?" Arystillia asked, joining back into the conversation.

"Look who decided to rejoin on the conversation." Fang said with a smirk.

"And look who just left." Arystillia sassed as she walked ahead.

"Lightning." Lightning told the pulsian woman.

"Hmmm?" Fang asked, rather confused as her jade eyes met with Lightning's aqua eyes.

"My name is Lightning." Lightning stated with confidence.

"Lightning, eh? Odd name. I don't believe that's your real name." Fang asked backed with a hint of sass in her voice.

"It's not but I'm not telling anyone my real name." Lightning answered. Arystillia walked back over to the two woman and stood there with her hands on her hips.

"I have a question, Fang." Arystillia told the brunette.

"What is it?" Fang asked.

"Your accent sounds similar to Vanille's. Are-" Arystillia began but Fang cut her off when she said _Vanille_.

"You know Vanille?" Fang asked. Arystillia nodded with a slight confused look on.

"How do you know Vanille?" Lightning asked.

"She and I are both from Oerba." Fang responded.

"I should have known she wasn't from Cocoon, judging by her outfit and her accent but I've never been to Oerba before so I wouldn't have guessed." Arystillia mumbled.

"What's your story? How do you know Vanille? Last time I checked, you aren't from Oerba, you're from Paddra." Fang asked the blue haired woman.

"She was with us on Cocoon and in the Pulse Vestige and then, thanks to Snow... we were all branded and turned into l'Cie." Arystillia stated with a sigh.

"Let's quit the chitchat and get moving." Lightning interrupted their conservation.

"Is she always like this?" Fang asked Arystillia.

"Most of the time, yeah." Arystillia replied while rolling her eyes. The three females kept moving along the streets of Palumpolum. On their way, they came across PSICOM soldiers, Guardian Corps soldiers, Vespids, Velocycles, and Orions.

"The army sure has a lot of time up their sleeves making a bunch of mindless weapons." Arystillia mumbled.

"Yeah, and then they use them to kill innocent people." Lightning replied without hesitating.

"But you were part of the army right?" Arystillia asked.

"I was before the Purge happened. Afterwards, I quit." Lightning replied.

"Enough of the talking, they've spotted us!" Fang called to the two other females. Lightning drew out her gunblade, turning it into gun and charged in ahead. Arystillia reached for her staff and it transformed into a lance. She charged into with a spark of electricity on her lance and swung it at one of the monsters. The monster wasn't expecting her lance to have electricity on it so when she swung, it was shocked and ended up paralyzed.

"Good, now hold still!" Arystillia shouted as she lunged her lance into one of the monster's mechanical leg. Fang charged in and launched the monster into the air with her Blitz move. Lightning switched over to being a Ravager, switched her gunblade back into a blade and then she used Sparkstrike on the monster, Arystillia switched over to being a Commando and started summoning a bunch of Ruin spells since it did non-physical damage. Fang switched over to being a Saboteur and tried to inflict Poison and Slow on the machine. Lightning switched back to being a Commando and launched the machine into the air, slashing at it with her blade and occasionally using Ruin on it. Arystillia switched back to being a Ravager and charged up a fire spell that surrounded her lance and she quickly swung it at the monster. Fang reverted back to Commando after successfully inflicting Poison and Slow on the machine, she summoned a Ruinga spell before heading over to Lightning and together they double launched the machine up.

"Just how much health does the pile of junk have?" Arystillia asked.

"Don't know but I sure as hell know that it won't live that much longer." Fang replied. The Orion held one of it's mechanical arms up high in the air and a spark of lightning formed on it. After a few minutes, the machine brought the hand back down and aimed it at the three women. Fang switched over to being a Sentinel in time and used Mediguard to heal while guarding but Arystillia and Lightning were launched into the air and then dropped back down with a thud.

"O-owwww." Arystillia complained as she switched over to being a Medic and applied a few Cure spells on herself and then a few for Lightning.

"Thanks." Lightning mumbled, keeping her eyes on the target. In those aqua eyes were anger and rage, directed at the Orion and at all the PSICOM soldiers that she knew she would have to fight afterwards. Arystillia reverted back to being a Ravager and casted out a whole chain of Thunder spells which ended up staggering the Orion. Fang saw that the blasted machine was staggered so she went in for the kill, she launched it into the air and then swung the blade of her lance into a chain of attacks, while Lightning did the same thing. Arystillia stayed below and casted Thundara at the Orion. The monster fell to the ground and broke down into a heap of metal. The blue haired woman eyed the PSICOM soldiers coming there way and smirked.

"Ramuh." she spoke as she summoned her eidolith. In a spark of lightning, the eidolon appeared, making the sky cloud over. The other two women charged at the PSICOM soldiers in their Commando roles, using Blitz to break apart the swarm. Arystillia looked at the god of lightning before her and nodded. Ramuh held his staff high into the sky as sparks of lightning appeared in the clouded skies and into the staff. He aimed the staff at the soldiers and they all fell over, either dead or just paralyzed.

"I'll ask for help when I need it again. Thank you." she told her eidolon before he disappeared in a spark of lightning and the sky became clear again. Arystillia switched over to being a Commando and charged in with a few Ruin spells at the paralyzed soldiers until she was sure that they died.

"Some battle." Fang said, sass in her tone," Hey you, over there." she called towards Arystillia as the blue haired woman turned her lance back into a staff and placed it away in it's holder that is connected to her belt but underneath her orchid leg draping.

"I have a name." Arystillia snapped.

"Sorry. Hey Arystillia." Fang mocked.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I didn't know you were a lance user. I honestly thought you didn't have a weapon." Fang remarked.

"I didn't know you were so cocky and overly confident." Arystillia retorted.

"Stop being a married couple and get moving." Lightning butted in.

"What?" they both asked, shocked.

"You heard me. Stop being a married a couple and get moving." Lightning repeated. Arystillia sighed in defeat and followed Lightning with Fang hot on her trail.

"Would you mind backing up a little?" Arystillia asked the pulsian woman.

"No, I think this is a reasonable distance." Fang smirked. Arystillia groaned as she kept walking.

"What's your story?" Fang asked.

"What do you mean?" Arystillia asked.

"You're from Paddra on Gran Pulse right? How did you end up in Cocoon?" Fang asked, clarifying the question a bit more.

"I was a l'Cie from five hundred years ago. My crystal was teleported to the Pulse Vestige along with my sister who ended up branded by the fal'Cie. I awoke five hundred years later to see my sister crystallized." Arystillia told the brunette.

"Hmm, how come your brand looks incomplete if you completed your focus?" Lightning joined in on the conversation.

"When I awoke, the time on my brand was restarted since I was given a new focus. I didn't know what my focus was until the fal'Cie branded you guys and when my sister appeared in my dreams." Arystillia explained.

"Care to tell us what our Focus is?" the other asked.

"To turn into Ragnarok and destroy Orphan. Also to bring Cocoon down from the sky." Arystillia told the two women.

"Destroy Cocoon? Go figures, we are _Pulse _l'Cie." Lightning remarked. They kept moving until they got to an alleyway and they decided to take a break.

"I'm tired of always being on the run. We can barely rest anymore." Arystillia complained.

"Welcome to Cocoon, the world where people live in fear of Pulse." Ligthning greeted with sarcasm. Arystillia leaned up against the wall and slid down to the ground.

"Wanna know how long you have until Cie'th city? Check your brand. You first get more arrows, and then an eye. When they eye opens up all the way, then you're done for. It's Cie'th time." Fang told the two other females. Arystillia looked at her and sighed in relief when she was nowhere near. Lightning turned away from Fang and unzipped her turtle neck shirt to check on her brand.

"C'mon now, don't be shy." Fang said with a cocky tone as she walked over in front of Lightning.

"Would you please back away and not stare at my breast?" Lightning snapped.

"Ah-ah-ah." Fang said as she bent down and looked at Lightning's brand. Lightning could not help but feel awkward that another woman who was not her mother looking at her chest.

"Good, you still have a lot of time left." Fang told Lightning.

"What about you, why does your brand look like that?" Arystillia asked. Fang sighed and leaned against the wall.

"I'm not sure." Fang replied, "Whatever it is, we're all l'Cie so we gotta stick together."

"Yeah, they always say that but then they end up betraying you." Arystillia mumbled.

"Hm? What's the matter, sunshine?" Fang asked.

"Nothing." Arystillia snapped before getting up, "We should get going, don't want Hope suffering with Snow too much." Fang shrugged and Lightning sighed as they followed after Arystillia.

_ It was a rainy morning when Arystillia left her home to go do errands for her mother since she was still too broken to go out. Halfway there she saw glimpses of black hair hiding in nearby stores until she bumped into someone._

* * *

_ "Lyla?" Arystillia asked when she saw who the person is._

_ "H-Hi, Arystillia..." Lyla mumbled._

_ "What brings you here? Shouldn't you be helping the others with rebuilding what was destroyed in the war?" Arystillia asked._

_ "A-Actually... I-I wanted to ask you a favor..." the raven haired girl whispered._

_ "What is it?" Arystillia asked, confused._

_ "It's about this..." she responded as she pointed to her l'Cie brand on the right side of her neck._

_ "Since when did you become a l'Cie?" Arystillia asked._

_ "I'm sorry I hid it from you...but there's something I need you to do..." Lyla responded, sadness in her tone. Not once did she ever look at the blue haired woman before her._

_ "What do you need me to do?" Arystillia asked._

_ "I need you to kill me..." Lyla spoke with pain in her voice._

_ "W-What?" Arystillia asked with shock. Lyla nodded as Arystillia backed away._

_ "I-I can't..." Arystillia barely managed to speak._

_ "You have too." Lyla pleaded._

_ "B-But why?" the blue haired woman asked._

_ "My focus... it's to kill your mother... since the fal'Cie says that you guys are cursed... I have to kill the leader... but I can't... and if I turn Cie'th... then..." Lyla mumbled, " I would rather be killed than become a mindless Cie'th without any chance of salvation! Don't you understand how life would be if you were Cie'th? You would suffer for all of eternity so I'm begging you please." _

_ "But-" Arystillia began._

_ "No buts! If you are going to be leader of this tribe one day, then you have to do what the citizens tell you. And I'm begging you, Arystillia please... just end it..." Lyla pleaded as she grabbed Arystillia's arm and dragged her outside of the tribe._

_ "Where are you taking me?" Arystillia asked._

_ "Somewhere so you can do it without getting executed for it." Lyla responded. They finally made it to an area where Behemoths normally live and stopped._

_ "It's easy, just kill me... throw the knife away and if anyone asks, just say a Behemoth got me..." Lyla said as she pulled out a knife from her bag and put it in Arystillia's hands, "If you don't do it on your own choice then I'll have to force you." Arystillia couldn't look at Lyla, not into those emerald eyes that used to be full of happiness and peace that is replaced with sorrow and grief._

_ "Please...it's my last favor of you so please just do it for my sake." Lyla begged. Arystillia gripped the knife tightly, so tight that it cut into her hands, causing blood to leave trails on her arms. Tears began to form, blurring her vision as she finally released her tight grip on the knife. She took a few deep breaths before holding the knife up very slowly, tightening her grip on the handle. She fell to her knees as the thought of her being a murderer swam through her mind._

_ "Please..." Lyla spoke as her voice cracked. Arystillia got back up, knees trembling with fear as she held onto the knife with her blood stained hands. _

_ "Please..." her friend's voice rang through her mind. She held the knife up high, closed her eyes which let the tears slip and brought the knife down until she felt it stab into something. She opened her eyes to see the knife lunged into her friend's heart as her friend smiled. How could she smile when she's dying? Arystillia thought._

_ "Thank...you...for everything. Don't forget me, please..." Lyla said her goodbyes as she closed her emerald eyes and stopped breathing. I'm sorry for doing this to you... Arystillia thought as she burst into tears._

* * *

"Hey, Arystillia. You alright?" Fang asked which snapped her back into reality.

"Y-yea. Just remembering things that I shouldn't be remembering." Arystillia replied with a shaky breath as she hurried to catch up with the two other females.

_Sometimes, you just have to smile through everything to hide who you really are, deep down through those layers of grief and sorrow... right, Nathalia?_


	13. Chapter 12: Hurt and Anger

**Author's Note: Heya! New chapter update. Sorry if this chapter seems out of place. I was really tired typing most of it due to a stormy day on Thursday and I had no school. This story is seemingly progressing very, very, very slow but I guess I can't just jump all over the place or it wouldn't make any sense right? I hope you guys enjoy and I know everyone says but please review, it really inspires me to keep writing. Thanks and enjoy. Also sorry for the scene screw up in the last chapter. I didn't notice it until I uploaded it. Have fun!**

* * *

BOOM! Another Orion is taken down.

THUD! PSICOM soldiers fall.

CRACKLE! Machines fall due to being overly charged with electricity. It's the same cycle every time and it's getting really old.

"Can't these people do something else? This is getting real old." Arystillia complained.

"Yeah, this ain't fun no more." Fang agreed.

"At least we're getting most of them down." Lightning told them.

"Yeah..." Arystillia said as she swung her lance at the Orion a bit too late and it struck her with its Sparkstorm which knocked her to the ground. _Damn that thing, _Arystillia thought before hitting the ground with a hard thud. _Get up, _Arystillia cursed as her body wouldn't move. Darkness swam over her eyes as consciousness slowly slipped away from her grip.

"Arystillia!" Lightning and Fang both said, alarmed. The two females quickly sent a chain of Ruin and attacks at the Orion which caused it to fall over and break down. Lightning bolted over to the woman on the ground and saw that she was unconscious.

"Damned PSICOM." Lightning cursed as she looked up at the sky to the sunset looming over the three, "Fang, try and see if you can get in contact with Snow and tell him that we're gonna be late since some stupid soldiers knocked out Arystillia."

"Tellin' me to call that fool. Great." Fang complained as she got out her communication device.

"Heya, Fang. How's it going?" Snow's voice came from the other line.

"Listen, now ain't the time for chitchat. Some of those stupid soldiers knocked out Arystillia so we're goin' to be a lil' late, ya got that?" Fang told Snow.

"Okay, is she alright?" he asked.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe I could ask her if she wasn't knock out." Fang said sarcastically.

"Sorry." Snow apologized.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I gotta go. Looks like Lady Luck ain't on our side today." she said with a sigh and disconnected the call, "So sunshine, what are we gonna do?" Fang asked Lightning.

"Wait." Lightning replied.

"In the middle of nowhere? If you haven't noticed, PSICOM can easily find us and use us as bait for Snow and Hope and I'm not gonna let that happen." Fang asked.

"No, we go find a place to hideout." Lightning said as she picked up Arystillia, to her surprise, she was actually very light.

"You seem to be havin' ease carrying her." Fang remarked.

"She's pretty light." Lightning replied. She began to walk, keeping her eye out for any soldiers. She knew she couldn't fight them, not with a fellow teammate in this condition so if any soldiers came, she would make a run for it. Carrying around Arystillia made her remember when Serah got hurt and she had to carry her home and when she found Serah in the Pulse Vestige. It somehow brought comfort to her when she heard Arystillia's shallow breaths, indicating that she was still alive.

* * *

_"Serah!" Lightning called out for her sister. It was getting late and Serah had not return, "Serah! If you can hear me please, respond to me!" she kept running all over Bodhum, trying to find her younger sister. _

_ "Serah! Where are you? Answer me!" the rose haired woman called out. Just on the outskirts of the town, she saw a figure lying there and it took her a while to realize that it was her sister._

_ "Serah!" Lightning called out to her sister as she broke out into an all speed run._

_ "Sis?" Serah asked, weakly._

_ "What happened?" Lightning asked as she gently swept some pieces of her hair away from her face._

_ "I don't know, I was just enjoying the view and then a monster came out of nowhere and attacked me. I couldn't get away in time." Serah replied. Lightning scooped up her sister and stood up._

_ "Let's go home." Lightning told her. Serah nodded and smiled._

* * *

Lightning saw an alleyway and headed towards it with Fang attack any soldiers that got in the way. They finally reached the alleyway and Lightning gently placed Arystillia down, propping her up by a wall.

"So what are you gonna do now?" Fang asked.

"Don't know." Lightning replied.

* * *

_It's cold. It's dark. Where am I? Am I dead? I can't feel anything? Can anybody hear me? I thought to myself as I saw nothing but black. A flash of white light appeared and there standing before me was a shadowy resemblance of her sister._

_ "Nathalia?" I spoke but my voice seemed restricted like I couldn't speak. I walked a bit closer to her only to see her fading away slowly. _

_ "What's going on? Where am I? Someone answer me, please!" I shouted to the darkness. It was as if someone heard me because then the darkness faded to a familar area, an area that I have seen before...wait, this is my tribe but why am I here? I saw a glimpse of someone with emerald green hair with a black braid and sapphire blue eyes._

_ "Marcella?!" I asked but she didn't notice me. Am I invisible? Can nobody see me? I thought as I kept moving along the trail towards the home that I once knew and loved. I could feel a pain in my chest as I got closer and closer to my home. A shrieking scream rang out and I quickly ran to my house to see a man holding a knife that was lunged into my mother's heart._

_ "You damned l'Cie leaders! If only everyone knew that you were l'Cie than they would hate you! Where's your two beloved daughters? They were supposed to rule over this tribe after you died but where are they now? Without a leader, this tribe will fall! And then, they'll come crawling to my tribe and begging for mercy!" the man taunted. My mother's hands went limp as she mustered up her last bit of strenght to summon a Firaga spell._

_ "If I die, you're going down with me." she said as she aimed the spell at him before closing her icy blue eyes that looked identical to Nathalia's. The man fell over on top of my mother and that was it, my mother died. Were these the events that took place after I became a crystal? I thought as the scene before my eyes changed to the homes being burned and people caught under the debris._

_ "Help!" came a bunch of voices from everywhere. I couldn't do anything since I didn't exist in this time period, all I could do was watch in horror. One by one, people were falling over with blood spewing out from their body as soldiers came and shot every single person that was left in my tribe. I really screwed up didn't I? If only I was never branded then none of this would of happened. The scene changed back to darkness but this time I heard a voice._

_ "Wake up. Wake up! Wake up, Arystillia! WAKE UP!" the voice kept repeating._

* * *

Arystillia's eyes shot open as she felt something cold on her. She looked to see herself drenched with water and her first instinct was to glare at Fang.

"Don't look at me. I didn't do anything." Fang said with her hands up, "Guess lil' miss sunshine got tired of calling for you to wake up and decided to summon a Water spell on you."

"Really, Lightning? Really?" Arystillia asked while rolling her eyes to receive a glare from Lightning in return.

"You are one heavy sleeper." Lightning mumbled.

"I wasn't sleeping!" Arystillia snapped and sat up. She summoned as Fire spell and had it in fireball mode to dry herself off.

"You were snoring like a baby." Lightning retorted.

"Shut up and I don't snore." Arystillia replied with a blunt tone. She finished drying herself up and attempted to walk but fell over.  
"Easy there. You were struck with a Sparkstorm and that paralyzed you." Fang warned as she helped Arystillia up again.

"I don't need your help." Arystillia murmured as she pushed Fang away and stumbled over but held herself up with a wall nearby.

"Stubborn as always." Fang mumbled. Arystillia made it to about one or two feet away from them but then she fell over again.

"Stop bein' so damned stubborn and let me help ya." Fang told the blue haired woman as she approached her.

"I don't need you to take pity on me." Arystillia said in an apathetic voice.

"I don't wanna use force but if ya gonna be stubborn then I'll have to." Fang murmured as she grabbed Arystillia's arm and put it on her shoulder while having her arm around the other female's waist and helped her move. Lightning seemed very amused at this sight and trailed along the two women before her. She glanced up and saw that it was starting to get dark so they need to to meet up with Snow and Hope soon. They kept walking with Fang helping Arystillia and Lightning fighting off any soldiers that got to close to them. Occasionally, Arystillia would send out a few of her long distance and wide range spells to knock them away. After a while, Arystillia started to get a sinking feeling that indicated that something went wrong but she tried to ignore it. The more they advanced that stronger that feeling and then it was as if there was a signal to indicate something went wrong , Arystillia pushed Fang away.

"No!" she shouted as she started to pick up her speed.

"What's gotcha all worked up?" Fang asked but Arystillia didn't answer. The two other females quickly caught up with her.

"Tell us what's wrong." Lightning demanded.

"Something's wrong with them." Arystillia replied without even having to use names and the other two women knew exactly who. They all hurried in the direction that they were heading towards, with Arystillia as the leader. _Hang on you two, we're on our way and Snow's going to get a beating of a life time, _ Arystillia thought to herself as she picked up her pace even more. After running for a while, the three women saw a pack of PSICOM soldiers with a Velocycle.

"Just great." Arystillia mumbled as she pulled her weapon out and changed it to lance mode, "You wanna die? Come and get it!" The blue haired woman shouted at the enemies. Lightning pulled out her Blazefire saber and switched it to gun mode for long range attacks and Fang pulled out her Bladed Lance and started charging at the PSICOM soldiers. Arystillia summoned a Thunder spell and let it flow into her weapon which created Sparkstrike and then she charged at the soldiers, knocking them out one at a time. Fang switched to being a Saboteur and casted Slow on the enemies so that they would be able to fight them off with any problem. Lightning switched her weapon back and forth from gun mode to blade mode, doing as much damage as possible.

Arystillia, being impatient as she was, sent out a chain of Thundaga, Firaga, Blizzaga, Waterga, and Aeroga spells at the soldier which quickly sent them flying. Fang and Lightning looked at each other and did a double launch at the soldiers, making them helpless as the two Commandos simultaneously attacked the soldiers as Arystillia sent out chains of magic spells at the Velocycle which caused it to break down very quickly. Before any of them could catch a breath, Arystillia started running towards the destination without even a second thought of looking out for soldiers, she would just send out spells at them and blast them away, that would be enough. _Please be okay, _Arystillia cried out on the inside but she hid it through one of her many poker faces but if anyone were to look into her eyes, they would see pain in them, pain and sorrow. That what her eyes were always filled with...


	14. Chapter 13: Frozen in the Past

**Author's Note: No, I am not dead in case you were wondering. I am very much alive. I've been caught up playing Lightning Returns recently so I've been busy doing that. How has everyone's Holidays been? Mine has been alright, not much excitement. Either than that, the plot with Nathalia will most likely be after the plot with Arystillia(which takes place in the first game) so she will be in the second game most likely. Also, Deene (a character that is mentioned later in the chapter) is the someone that Arystillia loved in her past and is the one who looks a lot like Hope. Also I named him Deene because it means Hope in french (I think). I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I might update Sunday or Monday because I really want to get the part with Nathalia into the story soon since Nathalia is my main OC while Arystillia is my friends's OC that I'm writing for. Everybody has tragic pasts in Final Fantasy XIII, it's just what makes them them, I guess... Enough talking, I hope you read and enjoy the chapter. Also my fighting scenes still suck so bare with me.**

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity of running, the three women got close to the place where they were supposed to be, according to Arystillia's instincts.

"Do you even know where you are going?" Lightning asked.

"I know what I am doing, Light." Arystillia replied, more blunt then usual. Fang sighed as she kept up with the sapphire haired woman who looked way too young for her age.

"Tell us a lil' about yourself. You can't remain a mystery now, can ya?" Fang told the other woman.

"What? Except for the fact that I'm physically the same age as Lightning, I don't know what to tell you." Arystillia replied with boredom in her voice.

"How old are you?" Fang asked.

"Older than you would expect." Arystillia replied.

"Like what, 521?" Fang asked.

"Add another 500 to that and you'll be able to know how old I am truly." Arystillia replied before continuing onwards, leaving Fang in shock when she figured out Arystillia's true age. The continued until they saw Hope fighting a flying orange monster.

"The hell is that thing?" Fang asked.

"Ushumugal Subjagator." Lightning replied.

"Ushumu- what now?" Arystillia asked, frustrated that she couldn't pronounce it.

"Does it matter?" Lightning asked as she pulled out her Blazefire Saber.

"Not really." Arystillia replied before pulling out her Mystic Lance in staff form and turned it into lance form.

"Where's Snow?" Lightning asked Hope.

"He's okay." Hope replied as he sent a Thunder spell at the Ushumugal Subjagator. Fang got out her Bladed Lance and together, the four of them started attacking. Fang switched to being a Saboteur and attempted to put Slow on the machine/monster. Arystillia chained Thunder, Water, Blizzard, Fire and Aero spells for a quick stagger as Lightning chained attacks and Ruins to keep the stagger up. After Fang successfully got Slow on the damned machine, she switched back to Commando and jumped up and did a chain of attacks. Hope was assigned as the Medic of the team and would heal when necessary or switch over to be a Synergist and putting buffs on when the main attackers needed it.

"Stupid chunk of metal." Arystillia mumbled as she put sent out a Thundaga and a Thundara spell. The machine crackled as too much electricty was being sent to it causing bits of it to malfunction.

"Send as much thunder elemental spells at this machine. It will cause a system overdrive and cause it malfunction." Arystillia told the crew. Hope and Lightning switched over to being Ravagers and sent out a flurry of Thunder and Thundara spells while Fang kept attacking the machine with her lance. Arystillia reached towards her l'Cie brand and closed her eyes.

"Ramuh." she summoned as her eidolith appeared in her hands. She launched the golden crystal into the air, leaped into the air and sliced it with her staff causing sparks of electricity to appear. After the electricity disappeared, Ramuh appeared with his staff in his hand.

"Finish the job!" she commanded as Ramuh floated up into the air and transformed into a godlike bird. Arystillia leaped into the air and landed on Ramuh and held her lance out, turning it back into a staff and placed it away. She grab a hold of Ramuh's staff and closed her amethyst eyes.

"Time to end this." she said as she raised the staff high into the air, causing the sky to cloud over with flashes of lightning everywhere. A few bolts charged right into the staff and Arystillia leaped off of Ramuh and landed near the machine. She held the staff out and the eidolon behind her charged up the electricity and sent it towards the staff. She released the bolt, also called Judgement Bolt onto the machine and it crackled and completely fell apart. Arystillia did a back flip and landed near Ramuh, returning the staff to the eidolon before nodding.

"You did well, until next time." she said and Ramuh disappeared, leaving the eidolith which became one with her brand again and clearing up the sky. The first thing that popped into her mind was Hope and she turned around to see Lightning and him having a conversation.

"Um, Operation Nora didn't really work out." he told the rose haired woman as he gave her back her survival knife. Lightning didn't say anything, instead she pulled him into a hug and ruffled his silver hair.

"I'll keep you safe. I promise." she said as she took a deep breath.

"Me too- I mean, I'll try." he said. Arystillia let out an irritated sigh and plopped down on the ground. Fang walked over to her and lightly nudged her.

"Does someone have a crush?" Fang asked. Arystillia scowled at her before turning away.

"Not in this life time." Arystillia replied.

"Huh, from what I just saw. I assumed you were jealous." Fang teased.

"Why would I be jealous of Lightning and Hope?" Arystillia asked.

"It's not that big of a deal if you do like him." Fang replied.

"I am physically 21, really 1021 years old. He's 14." Arystillia responded as she lightly smacked the back of Fang's head.

"And love needs no age." Fang told her. Arystillia stared back at the tanned woman before opening her mouth to say something but decided not to say anything.

"When one loves someone, they don't care about the age difference. Or that was how it was like in Oerba." Fang continued.

"Just shut up." Arystillia said, not sure what the emotion was but she felt uneasy about it. _Could it be that I am falling for Hope? No way, he's a little kid that is way too young for me but then what is this feeling that I am feeling? _Arystillia questioned herself. She felt the presence of Hope behind her and quickly turned her body around so that she faced him.

"What is it, Hope?" Arystillia asked. He took a deep breath before looking at the ground.

"You were right. I shouldn't kill Snow because my mother, my father, Light and you would be disappointed in me. I-I'm sorry for taking out my anger on you..." he told her. Arystillia shook her head.

"You don't have to apologize. Not at all. You did nothing wrong, you were just blinded by rage. I was the same as you at one point..." Arystillia told the boy.

* * *

_Warriors... they are cursed to fight forever for the safety of our tribe... _

_ "Arystillia?" came Nathalia's voice as she entered her home, there was sorrow in her voice._

_ "Was is it?" Arystillia asked, concerned. Nathalia sighed before looking her sister dead in the eye with her icy blue eyes._

_ "It's Deene. H-He's dead..." Nathalia told her._

_ "W-W-What do you mean by he's dead? You're joking right? Please tell me that you're joking..." Arystillia asked, on the verge of breaking down. Nathalia looked at the ground before shaking her head._

_ "I wished I was joking but he is gone. I heard it from a few of the hunters." Nathalia said with no emotion in her voice. Arystillia stared at her sister in horror before slowly falling to the ground. Nathalia, with her quick reflexes, caught her sister before she fell to the ground._

_ "Arystillia. Arystillia. Get a hold of yourself." Nathalia spoke, a bit more hushed to bring comfort to her sister._

_ "B-But why...?" Arystillia asked, voice cracking, "why?!" she yelled before completely breaking down and crying hysterically._

_ "Dear Etro, why must you be so cruel to us all? Is it because of us being unbranded l'Cie tasked to rule over this tribe or is it because you just love seeing people suffer?" Nathalia cursed the Goddess. Arystiilia buried her face into Nathalia's shoulder as her sobs became silent cries. Nathalia hated seeing her sister in so much pain but she couldn't do anything, nothing at all. After a while, Arystillia finally calmed down and Nathalia released her hold on her sister. The puffy eyed girl looked at her younger sister and down at the ground and repeated a few times before keeping her gaze at her sister. Violet eyes meeting with Aquamarine eyes._

_ "What exactly killed him?" Arystillia asked, voice still shaky._

_ "An unknown monster. It was said to have a giant plant blub on it's back." Nathalia replied._

_ "I will find that monster and slay it with my own two hands." Arystillia spoke with a fierce determination look in her eyes._

_ "Arystillia... you'll die." Nathalia spoke with concern._

_ "Then so be it." Arystillia spoke, anger and determination in her voice._

_ "Sis..."_

* * *

Arystillia face palmed herself. _Nathalia's concern over me caused her to shut herself away, she locked her heart away. After dad died, a small bit of her heart broke, when she heard about Caius' supposedly passing, another part broke, when our mother shut herself away, another piece broke, and finally, when I neglected her over my own anger, she completely isolated herself and froze her heart so that no one could ever hurt her again. I'm so stupid! _Arystillia mentally beat herself up.

"You were starin' off into nothin' for quite a long time. Somethin' on your mind?" Fang asked.

"Nothing." Arystillia replied.

"Someone wanna help me carry this fool?" Lightning's voice called out.

"I'll let Fang do it." Arystillia gestured towards the tanned pulsian woman.

"Let's go to my home..." Hope mumbled as Arystillia scruffed up his hair.

"It'll be alright, I promise." Arystillia said with a half smile.

_It'll be alright, I promise... Weren't these the words I told you when you came home that one day, devastated when you heard about Caius' supposed death? I broke the last straw didn't I? I neglected your concern and you shut yourself away... I'm too stupid to be your older sister... I don't deserve you as a sister... Maybe... you would be better off I just died..._


	15. Chapter 14: Relentless Assault

**Author's Note: OMG! I am getting tired of Palumpolum. It's just been going one fore about 4 chapters now. Ugh. They'll finally leave in the next chapter and head to the Palamecia and then everyone will reunited! Yay! Added a little memory thingy for Nathalia since she is aware of what is going on in her crystal stasis. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and thanks to everyone who likes to read. Reviews are helpful as always!**

* * *

They all walked, well Lightning and Fang were carrying Snow but it could be considered as walking , towards Hope's home in Palumpolum. Everyone was quiet, too quiet and the atmosphere seemed tense and heavy, like there was something bugging each and everyone of them which was no doubt correct.

"We can rest when we get there." Hope said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, if PSICOM/ Guardian Corps don't bother us but if they do, we're on the move again. Fugitives much?" Arystillia spoke with an irritated tone. _Stupid Sanctum, I hate this_, she thought to herself as she sighed. It hadn't been that long since she started the journey with Hope, Lightning, Snow, Vanille, Sazh, and the new addition Fang. She could remember the day when her sister became a crystal, she didn't even bother asking her what her focus was but whatever it was, it had to involve with her waking up from crystal stasis. Fate drives people apart but sometimes, a little courage is all they need to be reunited or that was what Arystillia was taught in her past.

"So who was your instructor that taught you to use your lance? What about staff?" Hope asked.

"Well a staff is easy to use if you use magic so I taught myself but the one that taught me to use my lance was my sister." Arystillia replied.

"Your sister taught you? That's amazing to have a family member teaching you to use a weapon." Hope said, a little happier.

"She was a strict teacher..." Arystillia mumbled.

_"Stand up straight and hold your weapon correctly!" Nathalia ordered. Arystillia winced at the sudden raised voice._

_ "Do it before I slice your weapon up, young lady!" Nathalia demanded._

_ "I'm older." Arystillia mumbled. Nathalia pulled out her sword and held up close to Arystillia's face._

_ "I don't care if you are older, when I am teaching you, it doesn't matter if we are family, I will always be superior to you. You will address me as Ms. Ladeia and that is final." Nathalia scolded her._

_ "Yes, Nathalia." Arystillia said, nervously._

_ "That's Ms. Ladeia to you!" Nathalia said before lowering her weapon._

"I bet she was." Fang cut in before staring at Arystillia's outfit, "What's that blue thing you're wearin'?"

"First off, I have this on when I first met you. Second, it's Cerulean. And Third, it's just an extremely long scarf that some people back in my tribe use to decorate their outfits." Arystillia replied.

"So ya wear like a cape, I'm assumin'?" Fang asked. Arystillia nodded with a hint of annoyance in her eyes.

"It doesn't fall off in battle? It's pretty loosely wrapped." Hope cut in with a question.

"It's sewn right here." Arystillia moved her hair out of the way to show that it was sewn together.

"Are you guys fashionista's now? Can we hurry up and keep moving?" Lightning asked, clearly annoyed that Fang left her and she was dragged down due to Snow's extremely muscular build. Fang rushed over to help Lightning prop Snow back up and together they all made their way towards Hope's home.

* * *

**Nathalia's P.O.V:**

_I had finally regain consciousness from my illness that had made me unaware of anything for the past two weeks. I wasn't sure what was going on but there was something missing... someone perhaps._

_ "Nathalia? Are you feeling any better?" my sister's gentle voice called out. I opened my eyes to meet my sister's violet eyes. There was something going wrong, I thought to myself._

_ "Yea, a lot better actually." I told her. It was like there was a hole in my heart, like someone important had disappeared. And that was when I remembered, a certain person with purple hair was nowhere, I couldn't even feel his presence anywhere near. Wouldn't he have been concerned._

_ "I need to go." I told my sister._

_ "But your still sick. You shouldn't leave, it could get worse." Arystillia pleaded. She must have sensed what I wanted to go find. The fact that I wanted to find that purple haired bastard for first accepting the Heart of Chaos and now he was nowhere to be found. And what about Yeul? Where was she? Did she see a vision in the past couple of weeks and that was why she and her guardian left?_

_ "Where is Caius?" I asked, eyes slowly forming into a glare. Arystillia took a deep breath and looked down at her lap._

_ "He left Paddra because of something that happened to Yeul." Arystillia told me and braced herself for a sudden outburst from me._

_ "So the bastard just left without saying anything?! He doesn't care, does he?" I yelled, angry yet sad that he was gone, "I should have known all along..." I wanted to find him and get some answers but at the same time I don't know where he went. He could of died... no... he can't die because he owns Etro's heart... I swear over Etro's gate that I would find him and find some answers...answers that I needed..._

* * *

**Normal P.O.V:**

The five l'Cie finally reached Hope's home, the closer they got to the front door, the more and more quiet Hope got.

"Go on, we all have your back if something goes wrong." Arystillia reassured the younger boy. He took a shaky breath before walking over to the front door and with a shaky hand, he pressed the door bell. The door quickly opened to see a man with brownish hair, glasses and was dressed very professional like.

"Hope!" he exclaimed at the sight of the boy. Hope kept his gaze on the ground.

"Mom's gone..." he muttered which left the older man in shock. The silver haired boy gestured for the rest of them to come inside. Hope showed Lightning to a room where Snow could rest and let him heal while she watched over him. Fang and Arystillia weren't sure what to do so they just stuck around with Fang eavesdropping on the conversation between Hope and his father, Bartholomew. All she heard was crying, probably from Hope's father at the news of his late wife.

"Nora..." he mumbled between sobs as Hope just sat there awkwardly. Hope got up and started walking away very slowly.

"I'm going to my room. We'll rest up for tonight and then we're leaving tomorrow." Hope told his father. Bartholomew looked up and pounded his fist angrily on the table.

"You're my son!" he shouted, "This is your home." Hope just kept moving, not looking back at his father.

"Is this what you plan to do the whole night?" Arystiillia whispered to Fang. Fang let out a heavy sigh before shaking her head. She saw the T.V and decided to watch the news so she headed over towards it, Arystillia hot on her trail. The Oerban woman turned it on to see a reporter.

_"Now for an update on the situation in Palumpolum. The l'Cie continue their desperate flight...and the military has now launched an all-out campaign to eliminate them." _Fang turned away in annoyance as the T.V kept playing as Arystillia didn't know what to do exactly.

"Must be the kid's family." Fang spoke.

"He never seems happy." Arystillia intervened. Meanwhile, as Lightning was watching over Snow, she had also turned on the T.V to catch up on the news but she wasn't really paying attention, instead, she was playing with her survival knife. Finally, the blonde "hero" woke up with a grunt of pain.

"Lay down." Lightning told him. Snow lied back down with one arm behind his head. Lightning went over and sat down on the chair by the bed, still holding onto the knife.

"Huh. I see you took the kid's toy away." Snow said with a smile.

"He gave it back to me." Lightning told him, "Said he didn't need it anymore."

"Go figure." Snow muttered.

"It was too much." Lightning mumbled. Snow made a confused sound.

"What happened to Serah. All I could think about was, 'What could I have done?' I hated myself for not trusting her. It hurt too much. I couldn't face it." Lightning closed her eyes and set the knife down, "Look, Snow. I... I'm sorry. Forgive me."

"For what?" Snow asked, slightly sitting up.

"Everything." she replied.

"If you told me your real name, I suppose I could." he said with a confident tone, putting both hands behind his head as he lied back down. Lightning let out a light scoff with a hint of happiness in it.

"Have Serah tell you- when she comes back." she told him.

"Deal." he told her. The door opened and Hope appeared in the doorway.

"My dad said he'd like to see you guys. He wants to talk." Hope told the two of them. Lightning and Snow made their way to the living room where everyone was gathered. Fang sitting on the arm rest of a chair while Arystillia sat on the other arm rest and his father was sitting on the main couch. Snow and Lighting made their way to two empty chairs and sat there, well Snow did, Lightning just stood while Hope sat on the same couch as his father. Snow got up out of his seat and got down on his hands and knees.

"The blame is mine. I couldn't save her." he bowed his head downwards. Bartholomew looked at Snow before putting a hand on his head and looking while groaning irritably.

"If it wasn't for Snow. I wouldn't be here right now." Hope spoke.

"Snow." Bartholomew looked up to face the blonde, "Did Nora... Did she say anything to you?"

"Hope. She said to... to get him home." Snow looked up.

"And that's exactly what you've done." he told the blonde. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"Face to face like this, it's hard to believe you're all dangerous fugitives. But the entire world is scared to death of you l'Cie. No, not even just you. People who've helped you, bumped into you... Sometimes it's even just people who've walked by one of you. They think they're tainted and want every one of them Purged." Bartholomew spoke.

"The Sanctum's a puppet pf the fal'Cie!" Snow shouted, angrily, "To them, our lives don't mean anything at all. We'll stop this. Take down the Sanctum, _and _save Cocoon."

"You've thought that through? If l'Cie take down the Sanctum, fear of Pulse will only get worse. It won't stop at fear. People will take up arms and stand against you. Can you imagine it? The rampant violence?" Bartholomew spoke.

"When the government's control is gone, the citizens will revolt." Lightning spoke in a hushed tone.

"So what then? We're supposed to just smile and eat a bullet? That means you, too." Fang said, getting up and putting a hand on her hip.

"I know I'm part of this. I'm on your side of the fence. Harborer of 'Cie, and a public enemy." Bartholomew told the crew.

"Coming here was a bad idea." Hope spoke. Arystillia got up and walked over to the silver haired boy and sat next to him, trying to comfort him.

"This is your home." Bartholomew put a hand on his shoulder which made Hope smile a little, "We're all here. Let's figure this out together." Just then the power in the house went out and everyone looked around, surprised. Outside the building, PSICOM soldiers were running up to the windows with their guns aimed at the l'Cie. Lightning scanned the area before gasping.

"Heads up!" Lightning shouted as window shattered and smoke bombs exploded into the area, causing everyone to cough as PSICOM soldiers broke the windows and charged in.

"Hope! In the back!" Snow demanded as he fell over in a coughing fit. Hope rushed over to the blond and crouch down by him.

"You're not ready for this. I'll stay here. Snow. Help my dad!" Hope told him as he took a hold of the younger boys hand and nodded while helping Hope's dad towards the back. A PSICOM soldier saw that Hope was off guard and thought it was his lucky day before Lightning grabbed a hold of the soldier, twisted him and sent him flying with a kick. Arystillia grabbed a soldier's arm, tossed him into the air before jumping up and doing a spin kick. The four of them grabbed a hold of their weapons and started attacking. Arystillia summoning spells while Fang did the close combat with her lance and Lightning switching between Ravager and Commando and Hope as the Medic. With that set up, the soldiers went down like dominoes. There were so many of them that Arystillia felt overwhelmed, she wasn't ready to fight off that many soldiers and with the fact that summoning too many spells can wear out someone's body, she became a easy target.

One of the soldier saw that she was weakening and decided to take his chance. He held up his gun and filled it with ammo, aiming the gun at her with a laser. _Well, looks like death is calling to me again, _Arystillia thought as she summoned one last spell before losing consciousness and fell over.

"Arystillia!" Snow called out and rushed over to the blue haired figure. He helped her into the back and waited until she regain consciousness as the three others continued fighting off the soldiers. The battles seemed to last forever until they all heard a voice.

"Stop shooting, I'll handle the executions of the l'Cie."


	16. Chapter 15: It's not What it Seems Like!

**Author's Note: First things first, the missiles are coming! *does Squall's little hand gesture* I don't know, okay? A not so serious chapter to lighten the heavy mood from the previous chapters but that doesn't mean that the chapters that are to come after this are very light hearted are happy at all. It's just the mood struck me while listening Pulse de Chocobo *does chocobo sound* badum tiss *crickets in the background* hahahaha... Hope is a perverted kid. Hope you enjoy and brace yourselves for the parts with Nathalia that will be coming after the Palamecia Assault, 5th ark, Archlyte Steppe, M'harabara Subterrean(?) Taejin's Tower(might skip that) Oerba, Eden Assault and Orphan then the little reunion *cries forever* too much to write before Nathalia becomes main character and Arystillia becomes a main supporting character. So while you enjoy the HopexArystillia moments, I'll be thinking of evil ways of torture with CaiusxNathalia. Be ready for cliffhangers when she comes in and blah blah blah. Hope you enjoy leave a review :P**

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"Arystillia! Arystillia! Wake up! Please! We need your magic!" Hope desperately begged the unconscious blue haired woman.

"Hope, instead of begging, you could be using your magic to help us." Lightning muttered as she sent out a chain of Ruin spells at the Havoc Skytank. Hope hesitantly nodded before rejoining the party and sent out Fire, Thunder, Water, Aero, and Blizzard spells for easy staggering while Fang was sending out debuffs such as Slow and Poison on the machine which wasn't working so she switched back to being a Commando and started attacking.

"This damned skytank doesn't know when to quit!" Fang exclaimed, angrily as she sent out a chain of Ruin spells.

"You don't say?" Lightning remarked as she switched over to being a Ravager and sent out a few Thunder spells.

"Will it just die already?" Fang asked as she jabbed her lance into the skytank.

"Finishing blow!" Lightning shouted as she chained both Thunder and Sparkstrike. The machine sizzled with smoke and flames engulfing it and fell downwards when another one came to take it's place.

"These guys are endless!" Fang shouted before a missile came and shot the tank out of the sky. Everyone held their weapon up, prepared for another fight when the door opened and down came a bunch of soldiers and one leading soldier.

"Need a ride, Fang?" the soldier said as he pulled off his helmet to reveal a man with shaggy brown hair, a ponytail in the back and fairly tanned skin. He flashed the Oerban woman a bright smile as Fang put a hand on her hip.

"Don't get cute." she retorted. She gestured for everyone to come along, Snow went in first and then Lightning who was carrying the still unconscious Arystillia. Hope went over to his father and looked at him.

"I-I should get going. I feel like I'm running away from what I am supposed to do." Hope told his father.

"You're not running away. You should do what you have to do." his father told him.

"You mean like complete my focus?" Hope asked.

"No, do what you think is right." his father replied as Hope gave him one last glance before heading towards the airship.

_He didn't know if he would ever see his father again but sometimes fate drives loved ones apart and then they slowly start to forget what their main purpose was and together, they must work together and figure out the truth behind the mess._

"This is the Lindblum." Fang and Snow both said.

"Lightning you should totally meet the Brigadier General, he's a really cool guy and he's similar to you." Snow told the pink haired soldier.

"You sound like a crazed fan girl, Snow." Lightning teased with a light smirk. Snow just chuckled and turned towards the Oerban woman.

"Fang works with them." he pointed out. Fang crossed her arms across her chest and gave Snow an 'are you fucking kidding me?' face before sighing and rolling her eyes. Lightning felt Arystillia stir a little and then her purple eyes were revealed.

"Glad the girl's awake." Fang said as Lightning helped Arystillia down on her feet. Just then a man with ebony hair that was slightly shaggy, a fairly slender face, grey eyes and dressed in a military outfit with a large cape, two shoulder pauldrons, and white gloves headed towards them.

"Cid Raines, Brigadier General, head of the fleet. I suppose that you three are acquaintances of Fang and Snow." Cid introduced himself, holding a hand out. Lightning looked him up and down and let out a scoff as she took a ahold on his hand and shook it.

"So where exactly are we headed?" Arystillia spoke up.

"We are headed towards the _Palamecia_." Fang said before Cid could even speak up, "They got two of us captured as hostages there."

"Vanille and Sazh, right?" Arystillia asked. Fang nodded.

"The _Palamecia_ is where the head of the Sanctum is right? The Primach or should I say Galenth Dysley." Snow said, acting like he knows everything.

"Surprised our big hero here knows some stuff." Lightning said with annoyance.

"Jeez, Lightning, you're more blunt than a butter knife." Snow acted like what she said hurt him.

"Toughen up, big baby." Lightning mumbled as she paced back and forth, not really sure what to do.

"What do you think of Cid?" Snow asked and that quickly got her attention.

"Hmm?" she asked, raising one eyebrow.

"What do you think of the dude?" Snow repeated.

"Why do you care?" Lightning asked back.

"Stop avoiding my question with questions, Lightning." Snow said, clearly wanting an answer from her.

"He's alright, I guess." she replied.

"Alright? Is that it?" Snow asked.

"What else do you want me to say?" Lightning asked back.

"Nothing." Snow said with a hint of amusement in his voice. Lightning glared at him.

"You're impossible, Snow." Lightning muttered.

"If you guys are done chitchatting, we have business to handle." Fang headed towards the blonde male and rose haired female.

"So what do we do now?" Arystillia asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"We depart and head to the _Palamecia_." Fang told them.

"How exactly do we _depart_?" Arystillia asked the Oerban woman.

"I'll have Rygdea depart us." Fang replied and she started to head in the other direction. Arystillia let out a long sigh as she looked up at the cieling of the ship. _Head of PSICOM? Sounds like a pain,_ she thought to herself as she noticed Fang and the man from earlier walking back into the room.

"So ya guys ready to depart and go face the Sanctum?" Rygdea asked, eying all of them.

"Yes." Lightning replied.

"Good, put an end to our corrupted Government, they're going too far." Rygdea told them before gesturing for them to enter a smaller aircraft.

"Are we all going to fit in here?" Snow asked, "I mean there are five of us plus you so that makes it six."

"Relax, we're all going to fit." Fang said, reassuring Snow before smirking, "Besides, if we don't fit, we could just leave you behind."

"What? Don't do that!" Snow exclaimed.

"I'm kidding." Fang teased. Lightning smirked as the five of them slowly made their way to the ship and squeezed together to fit in. First Snow went in and then Fang, followed by Arystillia, then Lightning while Hope sat in front of Arystillia. Rygdea sat in the pilot seat and called up someone on his comm device.

"Ya ready for us to depart from this ship yet?" Rygdea asked someone on the comm device. They responded with something that seemed to piss him off.

"Ya better hurry up before I slice off ya ass!" Rygdea shouted.

"Ugh! It's so tight in here!" Fang complained.

"At least you aren't being squashed!" Lightning yelled back, "Snow is taking up all the room!"

"Hey! It's not my fault that I'm big!" Snow shouted.

"Stop it! You're all screaming in my ears!" Arystillia screamed.

"We're taking off now so shut up!" Rygdea shouted over the noise as the ship went dead silent. Hope sat there in silence and felt awkward since Arystillia was pressed up right against his back meaning that her breasts were right up against him. _Wait what was he thinking about?_ He quickly shook the thought from his head but it was hard to considering that her chest was right up against him. The ship took a sharp turn and everyone followed the movement.

"Woah!" they all said in unison as Hope fell backwards and Arystillia caught him.

"Careful!" she told him as she caught him which made him feel even more uncomfortable since now he was pressed up against her. He couldn't help but blush since now her breasts were even closer to him and he was in her arms so it just got even more awkward.

"Sorry about that guys." Rygdea apologized.

"You should be apologizing to me." Lightning groaned as she sat up straight again.

"Oh? What's got your face all red, kid?" Fang asked Hope before eying Arystillia and then smirked, "Oh, I see."

"Huh?" Arystillia asked, confused.

"Ya might wanna button up your shirt." Fang told a confused Arystillia before the realization struck her.

"Hope!" she exclaimed, embarrassed as she shoved him away from her and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" he apologized as Snow gave him a wink.

"So why don't you just button up your shirt?" Fang asked. Arystillia looked down.

"I can't." she replied.

"Why not?" Fang asked.

"It doesn't have any buttons." she replied through embarrassment.

"Smart." Fang sarcastically remarked. The rest of the ride of was in pure awkwardness with Snow occasionally nudging Hope and winking while he scowled at the blonde man.

"We're finally here. Put an end to our government's corruptibility." Rygdea commented before landing and helping Lightning out.

"Ugh. I felt like I was getting crushed in there."Lightning mumbled. Arystilia made her way out with sheer embarrassment written all over her face. Fang and Snow came out with cocky smiles while Hope hung his head low.

"Cheer up, kiddo." Snow told him.

"No. She probably hates me now." Hope muttered.

"Nah, Arystillia ain't like that." Fang reassured him.

"How do you know?" Hope asked.

"Cause I just do." Fang replied as she followed the other two woman ahead of them.

"Hold up!" Snow exclaimed as he followed the females. Hope sighed and slowly made his way towards the massive PSICOM ship.

"Just great." he mumbled out of embarrassment.


	17. Chapter 16: Defiers of Fate

**Author's Note: Holy bananas! Two chapters in one day! Whoop! I'm trying to update as much as I can before I go back to school since one I do, I'll rarely be able to update even though I am dying to get to Nathalia's side of the story. After having many nights where I can't sleep, I have pretty much thought up the whole story in my head but now the most difficult thing was typing it out. This chapter was tedious to write since I absolutely hated playing through the Palamecia part of the game but it's a part of the game so it's gonna have to happen in the story since this is Final Fantasy 13. Next chapter will be the boss battle that I hated the most in the whole entire game and then I never knew what happened afterwards since I stopped playing 13. FangxVanille is what I ship and no one can stop me. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter or else I cry and leave a review or two to keep me inspired.**

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The minute they set foot on the _Palamecia_, they all noticed something was going completely wrong

"Code Red: I repeat Code Red!" the voice spoke on the intercom.

"Great." Lightning mumbled as she pulled out her Blazefire Saber. PSICOM soldiers surrounded them with their guns aimed at them with laser pointers.

"Freeze!" one of them demanded. Lightning scoffed as she switched her blade in gun mode and shot one of them soldiers square in the head. Snow charged in and started slamming the soldiers back and forth with the help of Fang and Arystillia with their lances. Arystillia would occasionally use magic strikes at the soldiers to quickly knock them of their feet and then Fang would charge in and send them into the air and Snow would start punching the hell out of them. Hope would send out spells of each element and would switch into being a Medic when either Lightning, Fang, Arystillia or Snow would take too much damage from the soldiers guns. All together, they made a great team until one of them does one thing wrong, mostly Snow who would charge at the same time as Fang. Either she would attack at the same time as he would or he would charge in while she was doing something so they would end up clashing with each other with their own mistakes.

"Stop getting in my way blondie!" Fang shouted as she sent out a Ruin spell at the last soldier.

"It's not my fault you attack when I attack!" Snow yelled back at her.

"You don't time things! You just charge in when I'm attacking! Wait!" Fang shouted as more PSICOM soldiers came charging at them.

"Man. I'm already hating this place!" Arystillia yelled as she did a swept with her lance, knocking the soldiers of their feet. Lightning charged in and sent out a chain of Ruins at the soldiers while Fang launched them into the air and would attack them. Hope would send of Thunder, Fire, Water, Aero, and Blizzard spells while Snow would try to attack but Fang got most of the attacks in so he would guard and try to Provoke the soldiers while the three females were attacking. One by one, the soldiers fell, clearing up a path for them to final make it into the airship.

"Hang on, Vanille. We're coming for you!" Fang called out when they finally set foot in the ship.

"This ship is massive." Arystillia said in awe.

"But this is where all the corrupted things happen. This is the reason the Purge happened. Because, Sanctum feared Pulse." Lightning told her.

"_Gran _Pulse. Not just _Pulse_." Arystillia and Fang said together.

"Why do people of Cocoon fear Gran Pulse so much?" Arystiillia asked.

"Because of the dangers and because it's a different world." Lightning replied. Arystillia sighed and continued walking onwards. The party encountered many battles with PSICOM Dragoons, PSICOM soldiers, and other PSCIOM related things but they weren't that difficult. After a while, they made it onto the deck on the airship where there were swarms and swarms of PSICOM soldiers, Dragoons, and Deckdrones.

"There is way too many enemies!" Arystillia exclaimed with surprise.

"Well we're gonna have to fight through them if we wanna save Vanille and Sazh." Fang told the blue haired woman. Everyone drew their weapons and started attacking the monster, if that was what they could call PSICOM. Everyone was getting tired of the constant enemies that would keep appearing but there was a little bit of hope for them all because they believed that the more enemies they fought, the closer they were getting to Sazh and Vanille. Right when they hit a place where there were no enemies, a weird looking monster flew up and stood in their way.

"Our lucky day." Lightning said as she pulled out her gunblade.

"So, Light... How you figure this makes us lucky?" Fang asked as she drew her bladed lance.

"Because when we kill it, we're one step closer to Vanille. How's that?" Lightning replied.

"Good enough." Fang replied as everyone drew their weapons. The battle started off with Hope placing Bravery, Faith, Shell, and Protect on everyone as Arystillia sent out a series of spells as Fang and Lightning attacked it with their weapons. Arystillia switched over to being a Commando and sent out a flurry of Ruin spells as Lightning switched to being a Ravager and sent out a chain of Waterstrikes and Water spells. The monster, known as the Kalavinka Striker, sent out a massive lightning attack that sent Lightning and Arystillia flying into the air. Snow charged in and tried to Provoke the monster so that it would focus on him while Hope tried to heal up Lightning and Arystillia with a chain of Cure spells. Fang kept attacking to keep it's stagger up with Snow kept it Provoked. After Hope healed up Lightning and Arystillia, they charged back in and attacked the monster. Arystillia switched back to being a Ravager and sent out a chain of Blizzard spells and Lightning switched over to Commando and sent out a chain of attacks and Ruin spells.

"Whatever you do, do not send out any form of lightning spells!" Lightning warned Arystillia and Hope.

"Why not?" Arystillia asked, confused. Lightning sighed.

"It's immune so it will just absorb it and heal itself up." Lightning replied. Arystillia nodded, indicating that she understands what Lightning said. The Kalavinka Striker sent out another lightning spell, Hellstorm Bolt, but this time it targeted Snow and only Snow.

"Snow!" they all shouted as Hope switched over to being a Medic and so did Arystillia. They both sent out chains of Cure spells until the blonde man was up on his feet again. Arystillia sighed in relief, knowing that their strongest Sentinel was alright.

"Thanks guys, I owe you one." Snow told the two of them before using Provoke on the monster again. Arystillia and Hope switched back to being Ravagers and sent out all the spells they knew that weren't lightning based spells. Finally, after a while, the monster fell over and slid off the ship as another one slowly flew it's way up.

"Another one!" Hope exclaimed.

"One big, fat stroke of luck after another. I'm so happy I could cry." Snow remarked, sarcastically. The monster flew past the crew and in another direction and then flew around them.

"Tease us, will ya?" Fang remarked with sass in her tone.

"Come down here!" Snow exclaimed as he pounded one fist into his palm. They all heard an explosion and turned in the direction to see smoke coming from the inside of the ship and a yellow chocobo chick came flying towards them followed by a girl with salmony red hair and a middle aged man, coughing from the smoke. Vanille jumped off the ledge followed by Sazh as Fang noticed her.

"Vanille!" Fang shouted.

"Fang!" Vanille said with a hint of happiness in his voice. Vanille ran towards Fang as Fang did the same thing. Everyone looked a bit happy to see the two females reunited. Everyone looked around, cautiously.

"There you are, miss me?" Sazh asked.

"Not you, the monster!" Snow yelled.

"What? Where?" Sazh looked around to see the Kalavinka Striker returning as he pulled out on of his guns. The monster striked at them, catching them offguard. Hope casted Bravery, Faith, Shell, and Protect on everyone while Sazh casted Haste. Fang casted Curse on the monster while Vanille casted Poison. Lightning sent out a chain of Flamestrikes, Waterstrikes, Froststrikes, and Galestrikes while Arystillia sent out a chain of Water, Blizzard, Aero, and Fire spells while Snow provoked the monster. Hope switched over to being a Ravager and sent out a chain of Blizzard spells while Fang switched over to Commando and sent out a chain of Ruin spells. Vanillle switched over to being a Medic and healing when needed while Sazh switched over to Commando and sent out Ruin spells.

"This is getting old!" Arystillia yelled at the monster before sending out a series of magic strikes and then switching over to Commando and sent out Ruin spells. Fang sent out another chain of Ruin spells as Lightning sent out a series a Water spells. Sazh switched over to being a Ravager and sent out Fire spells at the monster while Vanille switched over to being a Saboteur to reapply Poison on the monster and then switch over to the Ravager role and sent out a chain of magic spells. Snow switched over to Commando and sent out a Ruins spells to do extra damage before switching back to the Sentinel role and used Provoke and then Steelguard.

"Let's." Arystillia began.

"End." Hope joined in.

"This." Vanille said.

"Once." Fang spoke.

"And." Lightning mumbled

"For." Sazh and Snow both said.

"All!" they all yelled before attacking at once and the monster fell over and stayed down. Everyone sighed in relief and began to put their weapons away. Fang turned around and saw Vanille standing there.

"Vanille!" Fang called out.

"Fang!" Vanille responded before the two of them ran towards each other and hugged. Everyone smiled awkwardly as they saw the two females hugging. Fang released from the hug and crouched down while spinning Vanille towards the leg with her brand on it. She lifted the skirt to examine the brand while Snow, Hope, and Sazh turned away, awkwardly as Arystillia looked up at the sky while Lightning just looked in the same direction.

"You've still got time." Fang said, sounding relieved.

"Fang..." Vanille began, "There's- There's something I need to tell you." Fang cut her off with another hug.

"Making me worry like that... We'll talk later, Missy." Fang told her before letting her go and patting her on the head. Sazh sighed in relief to see the two of them so happy.

"What's wrong?" Snow asked.

"Oh, uh...nothing! It's nothing!" he exclaimed, placing his hands up, "Uh- so? What's on the Agenda?"

"Toppling the Sanctum!" Snow said while punching his fist into his palm.

"No, I mean really." Sazh said, annoyed.

"He's serious. We're gonna take down the Sanctum and give Cocoon back to the people." Lightning said, folding her arms across her chest, "The fal'Cie have called the shots for long enough."

"If we pull this off, it will be a miracle." Hope said with a hint of sass in his voice. Fang placed her lance on the ground and crossed one leg over the other.

"Well, good thing Lady Luck's on our side." Fang remarked before hearing something in the air and they all looked up to the sky to see more monsters flying above them.

"More of 'em?" Sazh asked.

"You know, this is getting really old." Snow commented.

"Check this out. A miracle- Gran Pulse style." Fang remarked. Arystillia eyed Fang a little like she was crazy before realizing what she meant. Vanille and Fang ran a little bit ahead before eying a certain monster.

"Vanille! Go fish!" Fang ordered.

"Got it!" Vanille exclaimed before releasing the binding ropes on her the monster which restricted it as Fang ran and jumped up into the air. Vanille pulled the monster closer and waited until it was reasonable distance.

"Fang!" Vanille called out as Fang landed and jabbed her lance into the monster which sent it to the ground and not move.

"That's a good girl!" she called out to the monster before looking at the crew, " All right!"

"Let's get on!" Vanile told them before running towards Fang. Everyone agreed and followed Vanille as a silver mechanical owl eyed their movements before fling off. As the crew rode on the monster, Sazh was dangling off one the rings on the monsters, screaming for help. Arystillia giggled.

"Believe in Lady Luck now?" Fang asked.

"Yeah- Lady _Bad_ Luck!" Sazh yelled back

"Time to purge a Primarch!" Snow said, heroically.

"You've got it!" Fang exclaimed as she maneuvered the monster through the bullets that were fired at them.

"Jump!" Lightning yelled as everyone jumped off the monster, screaming in the process. Everyone landed in an unknown area, panting and grunting from the impact as Sazh helped Hope up and Fang helped Vanille up. Lightning scanned the area before seeing a massive door.

"Dysley's through there." Lightning pointed out. Fang grabbed Vanille's arm and eyed her.

"We're still gonna have our talk." Fang told her, "But let's survive this first, yeah?"

"Right." Vanille agreed while nodding.

"A-Arystillia..." Hope began. Arystillia ignored him and walked towards where Lightning was. Clearly she was still upset over the incident in the ship.

"Look, I'm sorry." he told her.

"Hmph." was all she replied with.

_What am I doing with my life? Shutting out the one person I care for throughout this entire journey? It's just...I can't... that was too much for me... Nathalia? Care to give any advice? Who am I kidding? You can't hear me, can you?_


	18. Chapter 17: Fighting Fate

**Author's Note: 17 chapters later, Barthandelus 1 is down. So not ready for writing the battle with Cid since I didn't get that far in the game. I start school again tomorrow so I might not update until Sunday but I might update tomorrow if I feel up to it. One chapter down, one step closer to Nathalia. Just a little longer, you can wait just a little longer. I really can't wait for her part since it's just gonna get dramatic and sad. Sad love *cries* I hope you enjoy this chapter and remember, I HATE BARTHANDELUS! This chapter is my revenge for him.**

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"So we're gonna be takin' down this damned Primarch?" Fang asked Lightning.

"I've said it many times, yes." Lightning replied with annoyance in her tone.

"Sheesh, I was just askin'." Fang muttered as they continued down the stairs and got closer and closer to Dysley.

"Not quite yet it seems." Arystillia pointed out at a PSICOM Reaver and a bunch of PSICOM Huntresses at each level.

"Great." Lightning sarcastically remarked as she pulled out her gunblade and readied it as the others drew their weapons and together they charged in and beat the PSICOM beings into bloody pulps, not exactly but close. The Huntresses were putting buffs on everyone while the Reaver would keep the attacks coming with his weapon. Hope and Sazh placed buffs on everyone while Fang and Vanille were countering the Huntresses buffs with DeBuffs. Arystillia and Lightning teamed up and sent out multiple chains of lightning base spells, fire based, water based, ice based, and wind based spells while Snow charged in as a Commando and punch the guys into oblivion. The battles seemed easy until the Reavers started chaining their attacks on one of their Synergists and then everything after that just fell apart.

"Hope!" they all shouted towards the boy laying limp. Arystillia was the first one to be by his side and was keeping him shielded by the attacks that were coming by using her own body as a shield. Lightning switched into a Medic role and so did Vanille as they cam rushing over to the both Arystillia and Hope. Lightning used a Raise spell on the boy and chained a bunch of Cure spells on him while Vanille healed the wounds that Arystillia got from protecting him. Fang, Snow and Sazh all switched into Commando and kept attacking the Reavers and Huntresses while Hope sat the rest of the battles out since he was still dazed. Fang was shot with one of the bullets and fell over, coughing and gasping in pain.

"Fang!" Vanille called out as she ran towards the older Oerban woman.

"Damned bullet is Poisoned." Fang managed to say before Vanille casted an Esuna spell and a few Cura spells to heal her before the tanned woman got back on her feet and started attacking again. Things weren't going how they were supposed to anymore. Arystillia sent out magic spells but was forbiddened to go near any of the enemies since she was tasked to look over Hope and was still a little wounded by taking all the atatcks. Lightning shot the last Reaver down while Fang cut the last of the Huntresses down. They all slowly made their way towards a massive door and stood there.

"This is it." Lightning mumbled as they got closer to the door.

"Fighting fate." Arystillia commented.

"Ya'll ready to beat a Primarch?" Fang asked. Most of them nodded while Hope looked really nervous and scared.

"Relax, it will be fine." Arystillia said, placing a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

"What if we die?" he asked her.

"We won't, that won't be happening until we give Cocoon back to the people." Arystillia told him.

"No more dilly dallying." Fang added.

"This is what we've all been looking for, the answers lie just beyond that door." Snow said, heroically. Lightning took a step foward and the door opened to reveal a long hallway with an exit. Everyone followed her in and together they all walked down the hallway, ready to meet Dysley at the end of it. Not much to their surprise was Dysley, who was a wrinkly old man wearing white robes with blue and gold ornates and a blue and gold headress with a sheer lavender viel on it, sitting atop a throne like chair in the middle of the room with a woman with long blonde hair, glasses, a black outfit while holding a baton.

"Been looking for you, Nabaat!" Sazh yelled out to the woman. The woman, called "Nabaat" smirked and jumped of the platform to land on the lower grounds.

"Your Eminence, please escape.I'll cover your retreat.." she told the Primarch as she pulled out her baton.

"Why don't you leave, Jihl or rather take your leave." Dysley told the woman, "Humans don't have business here."

"What?" she asked, confused and turned around, "Your Eminence!" he shot a spell at her through his staff which sent her down and he grinned evilly.

"Wha-? Magic?" Sazh asked. Dysley chuckled evilly, got up, levitated and summoned something through his staff that killed off every PSICOM worker there.

"Dysley!" Snow shouted, angrily. Dysley summoned up more magic and opened up the platform.

"Monster! People are not yours to use!" Snow shouted. Dysley landed down on the ground before them.

"What else does one do with tools?" Dysley asked, sinisterly. Snow angrily charged at the Primarch but was sent back with a magical barrier around him.

"Snow!" everyone called out towards the blonde man.

"Cocoon is a factory, built by fal'Cie. A factory for the mass production of human thralls." Dysley told them.

"Not anymore, it's not." Snow said while getting back up.

"What can mere men do? Without our help, death is all of which your capable. You saw the fools. A mindless mob drunk on fear of a few l'Cie." Dysley told them.

"If only they knew a l'Cie was the one filling their glasses!" Lightning exclaimed, drawing her blade and had it in hand.

"L'Cie?" he asked before chuckling evilly, "You mean me? Oh child, perish the thought." he began to levitate again and merged with the silver owl, " I am more than that!" A white flash of light appeared and there before them was a giant metal being with 4 small heads and 1 big head.

"I am fal'Cie. My name is Barthandelus. Voice of the Sanctum, and Lord- Soverign of the Cocoon fal'Cie." he said as everyone backed away in horror, "Your kind feared the darkness, so we gave you life. You begged us for the Purge, and did it not come to pass? Now you must spurn our counsel? You must learn your place!" Everyone drew their weapons and stood, ready for battle which did not seem like a fun thing.

"Cocoon's nothing to you?" Lightning asked as she observed the fal'Cie while Hope and Sazh placed buffs on the party. Fang swung her lance around at the fal'Cie while Arystillia sent out Ruin spells as Vanille healed and Snow attacked with his fists.

"The right most Ailette is weak to ice, the one next to it is weak to water, the left most Ailette is weak to thunder and the one next to it is weak to fire." Lightning told everyone as she sent out a Libra spell on the fal'Cie. After Hope and Sazh finished placing buffs on the party, they both switched over to being Ravagers and so did Arystillia, Vanille and Lightning and together they sent out a huge mass of ice based spells towards the right most Ailette while Fang and Snow attacked it. The Ailettes were just sending out first level spells so it didn't seemed like much beings spammed with Thunder, FIre, Blizzard, and Water spells until Barthandelus used Magic Amplification which buffed up the spells to -ra spells making it hurt more so Vanille switched back to Medic and started healing anyone that got hit with spells as everyone kept the attacks coming. After a bunch of ice based spells, the first Ailette got taken out so they decided to focus on the left most Ailette which was weak to thunder based spells which wasn't any problem for Lightning or Arystillia since they knew the stronger thunder spells.

Everyone charged in again with as many thunder based magic spells as they can while Fang started sending out Ruin spells and Snow started using Blitz to take do multiple damages to the two Ailette. Barthandelus used Magic Amplification again and that just made the spells hurt even more, getting attacked with a Thundaga made it feel like every bone was being sizzled from the electricity charge and being stabbed with an icicle didn't make anything better so Hope also switched over to Medic and helped Vanille with the healing since one Medic wasn't enough. After an eternity of spell casting, the left most ailette fell and that left them with the Thunder Ailette and the Blizzard Ailette. The three Ravagers left decided to go for the blizzard one next since ice hurt worst than thunder ever did. After being chained on with both Thundaga and Blizzaga, Arystillia couldn't handle bracing the pain anymore and just fell over which caught Hope by surprise.

"Arystillia!" he yelled in surprise as Vanille quickly ran towards her and pulled her back towards them while the others were still fightning Barthandelus. Vanille casted a Raise spell while Hope casted a chain of Cure spells and then another until most of the wounds were gone. Arystillia still seemed a little weary so they decided to assign her as a Medic until she seemed a little stronger and less pale.

"You alright? You scared us there." Vanille told her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." she replied as she stood up stronger than before and switched over to being a Ravager and continued sending out fire based spells along with Sazh and Lightning while Fang and Snow focused on attacking the other Ailette to end this much more quickly. Dozens, maybe even more, fire spells later, the Blizzard Ailette fells so they all focused on the Thunder Ailette which was already on its way to its doom so after a few water based spell, the Ailette fell leaving Barthandelus left. The attackers started sending out chains of whatever spells they knew trying to stagger the fal'Cie but that didn't seem like it was working out. Barthandelus opened up his face and used an attack called Thanatosian Smile which did little damage but alot so it did end up doing a little damage towards the party leader which was Lightning so Hope and Vanille quickly sent out chains of Cure spells to bring the leader back to her feet. Snow switched over to being a Sentinel to guard most of the damages from Ruinga and Baptism in Ruin while everyone else attacked. Barthandelus's head started to light up as it seemed to charging up some kind of spell.

"Quickly, everyone attack as much as you can before he finishes charging!" Lightning ordered. Hope and Vanille switched over to being Ravagers while Snow switched into Commando and everyone started attacking. Hope, Vanille, Lightning, Arystillia, and Sazh all sent out multiple chains of magic spells while Fang and Snow sent out multiple chains of attacks and Ruin spells which ended up staggering the fal'Cie. Barthandelus sent out that attack but it barely did any damage and nobody wanted to waste time now that he was staggered so they kept on sending out their attacks and after a long while, Barthandelus finally fell. The giant metallic fal'Cie body slowly disappeared.

"A fal'Cie running the Sanctum..." Snow said, aggravated but slightly out of breath.

"Then... I guess it wasn't Eden controlling things after all." Hope responded.

"As I said." Dysley's voice interrupted them, "I am Lord- Soverign."

"Guess fal'Cie don't go down as easy as the rest of us." the afro man said.

"Ease is not the issue. You have not fought to win. You should know quite well already the sure way of dispatching our kind." Dysley told them as they all looked at him in shock, "Ragnarok." Everyone lowered their guard as he finished his sentence.

"What's Ragnarok?" Fang asked before feeling pain in her brand and she hunched over.

"Pitiful l'Cie, you've forgotten your Focus. Ragnarok is the beast one of you must become in order to lay waste to Cocoon. You have had the dream. One among you will become that monstrosity, defeat Orphan, and destroy Cocoon." Dysley said as he teleported towards each of the l'Cie.

"Told you guys I was right." Arystillia mumbled before Dysley appeared before her.

"Perhaps, this one is perfectly suited with the attitude she has." he said before teleporting towards the center again.

"Orphan?" They asked.

"The font of Eden's power. Orphan fuels Eden with strength, and Eden in turn sustains you and the rest of our kind. Destroy Orphan, and you'll release a force such as this world has never seen. Cocoon will be torn asunder." Dysley explained to them. Fang got up from her hunched over position, still gripping her arm with her brand.

"So if I did that... Destroyed Orphan..." Fang began as Dysley teleported over to her.

"Your Focus would be fulfilled." he told the Oerban woman as she eyed him in shock. Lightning got annoyed and swung her blade at him but he disappeared immediately.

"So what?" she asked, irritated, "Who says it has to be?" Snow took a step forward and held out the crystal tear.

"Serah asked us to save Cocoon before she turned to crystal. Save it, And that's what we're gonna do!" Snow said, drawing the crystal close to him. Arystillia dug around in her pouch that was attached to her belt and felt the bracelet with the crystal shard on it.

"My sister, the last of my family, told me to protect Cocoon _and _Gran Pulse and that's what we'll do. We'll save Cocoon and protect both worlds from danger." Arystillia joined in.

"Serah was tryning to tell us how to complete our Focs, and we have-" Snow continued but was cut off by Dysley cackling evilly.

"Allow me to help you see the truth of things. The moment you arrive, your friend wept crystal tears. This was because her Focus required that you be brought together. That girl did nothing but assemble the tools for Cocoon's destruction however, one final piece would be missing. Your sister's Focus was to wait until you awoke from crystal stasis and would be joined up with the others so that you could all bring an end to Cocoon." Dysley told them as Snow looked down in a mixture of horror and shock while Arystillia backed away in fear, "Did it never occur to you? Or did you simple refuse to countenance the thought?" Everyone looked at him in horror, shock, and anger before the area shook with a violent rumble which sent some of them to the ground.

"If you will not face the truth, then face the peril of your plight." he said as the owl reappeared and grew massively into an airship and Dysley flew towards it, "Run, l'Cie! See how stark reality is!" Everyone fell a little with another shake from the movements.

"Come on!" Lightning called out as they charged into one of the ships and escaped before the room collapsed.

"This is bad! The yoke's jammed!" Sazh yelled.

"I knew it was a trap!" Snow yelled, angrily.

"Something's coming!" Hope warned them.

"What?!" Arystillia asked, panicked. She looked in the same direction to see a giant bot like thing flying towards them.

"Not so fast, l'Cie." Rosch spoke through anger as he shot missiles at them as they swerved around.

"Hang on!" Snow yelled as one of the missiles shot the ship and they went down before flying back up in a different form.

"The hell kind of ship is this? Fighting on its own?" Sazh asked, confused. The ship flew up and then around and shot at the ship with Rosch in it.

"Clever, aren't you?" Rosch asked before shooting more missiles at them. The ship they were in dodged all the missiles and started flying away.

"Can't we do something?" Hope asked.

"Got me! I give up!" Sazh gave up. The ship flew threw a bunch of shield like deploys and lost Rosch in the process. Everybody looked back to see that Rosch nor his ship wasn't around. Vanille looked back to see the ship flying towards a building.

"Sazh, look out!" Vanille warned. Sazh looked around to see that it was too late and everyone screamed, scared half to death. The ship went throught the building with no damage done.

"What the actual hell?!" was that could be heard.


	19. Chapter 18: The Truth of Nathalia

****Author's Note: School x-x. Depressing chapter, mainly towards the end. Also, since this story is going to go from Final Fantasy 13 to Final Fantasy 13-2 to Final Fantasy 13: Lightning Returns, should I list it as a crossover or should I not because it wouldn't make any sense? And if I were what I list it as since I can only list two worlds. *sighs* I don't know anymore. Next chapter is the battle against Cid Raines (baby no! XD) LightxCid moments, sad moments in the next chapter... Such a depressing story, it makes me feel like I'm going to die writing this chapter. Anyways, enjoy! I'll try to update tomorrow (most likely not XD but we'll see).****

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After the crash landing, everyone escaped the airship, unscathed, a little shaken but not injured.

"Where are we?" Lightning asked, looking around, observing the place.

"Looks like a piece of Pulse." Vanille replied.

"Vanille's right, it does look like something from Pulse." Arystillia commented.

"Pulse? What, you mean like the Bodhum Vestige?" Sazh asked, "Something like that, this close to Eden."

"Yeah, well, what I don't understand is after the Purge, and all that l'Cie paranoia... why keep a chunk of Pulse under the floorboards?" Fang asked, placing both hands on her hips.

"Is this what the Primarch wanted us to see?" Hope asked, following Fang and Vanille as they wandered around.

"A place for l'Cie to accept their fate." Lightning spoke.

"Do you really think our Focus is what Dysley said it is?" Hope asked.

"You mean, become Ragnarok." Vanille said.

"Destroy the fal'Cie Eden, and shatter Cocoon. That's what the vision is telling us, more or less. So, we're back to square one. Out of luck." Sazh said, walking around while sighing. Vanille walked to the blonde man and attempted to gain his attention.

"Mr. Hero! Cocoon calling Snow!" Vanille called out but Snow just remained silent so she gave up.

"It's almost like Dysley wants it to come true." Hope mumbled.

"Seems that way." Sazh agreed, "He sure didn't mind explaining it. 'Here's your Focus on a silver platter.'"

"But that doesn't make sense. I don't get it. Why would a Cocoon fal'Cie want to destroy Cocoon?" Vanille asked, placing her chin in her palm.

"Maybe it's a fal'Cie thing. You know what I mean? Some grand design we just don't understand." Hope replied. Fang gave a scoff before turning towards Snow.

"Hey, Snow! Nothing from you?" she asked, gesturing a hand at him while frowning.

"For someone who can't keep his mouth shut, he sure can now." Arystillia muttered as they all turned away and walked towards the only open path.

"So, this way?" Sazh asked.

"Does it look there are any other paths?" Arystillia asked. They all continued down the hallway when Snow stopped Lightning.

"Hey, uh, I've got to apologize. It looks like I was wrong." Snow apologized to Lightning.

"About Serah's Focus? Not like you to second-guess yourself?" Lightning remarked.

"Well, even heroes make mistakes." Snow told her.

"What about you plan to protect Cocoon? Either way, your faith in Serah was strong. That strength got you this far." Lightning told him.

"It was all wrong." Snow mumbled.

"Yeah. You tried so hard to convince us that you even fooled yourself. You've been a total idiot. But still... It saved me. You trusted Serah. Let that faith drive you. It even made me want to believe." Lightning commented before walking off. They all continued throughout the ruins of the Vestige, having to leap onto ledges and ascending stairs.

"I can't believe we're still in Cocoon." Hope said in amazement.

"It's kind of creepy." Sazh mentioned. Everyone looked around the area, amazed until the ground below them glew a faint reddish orange and the mark of the Pulse l'Cie brand appeared underneath them as they all grabbed towards their brand in pain, grunting in pain. The mark disappeared and everyone look around confused.

"What the-?" Sazh asked as a latch opened sending out a few Pulsework Knights. Everyone readied their weapons as the monsters approached them. The technique to kill them was to use as much magic against them so Arystillia, Hope, and Vanille stayed in Ravager mode and sent out chains of spells while Fang, Sazh, Snow, and Lightning stayed in Commando and sent out attacks and Ruin spells. Once staggered, the Pulsework Knights were completely immoblized so that was when they all chained their attacks together and went for the throat. The Knights were quickly killed. After the battle, everyone put their weapons away, Arystillia not putting her weapon back into staff mode but kept it in lance mode and slung it over her back, tightened by the scarf draping she had. The ascended the stairs and Vanille went on ahead of them to observe the scenery.

"This place- it must be an Ark." Vanille came to a conclusion.

"An Ark?" Lightning asked.

"That's what they called 'em." Fang said, putting both of her hands on her hips again.

"Long ago, the fal'Cie who made their home on Gran Pulse were afraid of invasion from the outside. As part of their battle preparations, they created an army of living weapons. And they stored those weapons in Arks, and they hid the Arks all over the world." Vanille explained,

"Everyone on Gran Pulse knew the legend." Fang added. Arystillia nodded in agreement.

"So, this is basically a Pulse armory." Lightning pointed out. Fang nodded as she approached Lighting.

"Most of us never believed in 'em. A few people tried searching, but they never found a thing. Who'd have thought to look on Cocoon?" Fang spoke.

"Right under our noses. That's some secret they kept. Those Sanctum guys, what are they up to?" Sazh asked but Vanille cut him off.

"The story's not done. There's more." Vanille said.

"They used to say the Arks had a more practical purpose." Fang stated.

"Huh. Really." Lightning mumbled.

"Yeah, to force l'Cie to master their shiny new powers." Fang said with her cocky tone.

"Okay, so, I get it. Dysley's goal is to forge us into stronger weapons. Right." Lightning spoke, her voice showing no emotion.

"Not Cie'th, but monsters all the same." Sazh commented.

"Think of it as training for the fight ahead." Hope butted into the conversation.

"Hope's right!" Vanille exclaimed before they all heard something moving and another latch opening up.

"Wait, what was that?" Sazh asked as they all looked around in panic as more and more monsters appeared.

"Agh, these guys again." Sazh complained

"Fun times." Lightning said, holding her weapon before lowering it.

"Over there! We've got to keep moving!" Hope pointed out as everyone hesistantly followed him to the top of a flight of stairs, Descending it would be walking straight through hell but what else could seven l'Cie do? They were faced with two Pulsework Knights and two Circutrons.

"You know the drill with bombs." Lightning told the crew as they all nodded and pulled out their weapons. Vanille switched over to being a Medic while Arystillia and Hope stayed in Ravager, Snow switched to Sentinel while Lightning, Fang, and Sazh stayed in Commando. Arystillia chained a few Blizzard spells and a few Water spells together to cause massive damage while Hope did the same as her but sent out Aerora spells to send to bomb flying towards the sky, leaving it helpless. Arystillia saw that Lightning and Fang were doing perfectly fine taking care of the bombs so she moved onto the Pulsework Knights and sent out chains of Thunder spells while Sazh shot at it with his guns.

"Nice work, kid." Sazh told her and received a glance from him.

"I'm not a kid, I'm a lot older than you think." Arystillia pointed out as she sent out a Thundaga spell which shattered the ground and sent bits of debris everywhere. The Pulsework Knight quickly staggered due to the Thundaga spell that was sent at it and Sazh took it as a chance to shot the staggered one down with a few bullets and Arystillia moved onto the next one. Hope switched targets to the remaining Pulsework Knight and helped Arystillia with staggering the monster. _This place really is a boot camp for l'Cie, huh? _Arystillia thought to herself, _By doing this, am I getting closer to you, Nathalia? I miss seeing your face, your smile even though you don't show it anymore and hearing your reassuring voice, the voice that told me everything would be alright. Where did I go wrong in my past? _

"Arystillia!" Hope called out which snapped her back into reality as she quickly deflected one of the Knights attacks. She sent out a Thundara spell which staggered it as both Lightning and Fang charged in and attacked the hell out of it with Snow attempting to attack but Fang wouldn't allow him since she was more agile then he could ever be. After finishing off the battle, everyone took a quick break before moving on.

"You know, I've been wondering. Am I supposed to even be on this journey with you guys?" Arystillia spoke with everyone.

"What do you mean?" Lightning and Hope both asked before glancing at each other awkwardly.

"Like it's weird how I've been around for so long but I never once thought that one day I would meet you guys and be on a journey towards fightning fate. I always thought that you should accept your fate whether or not you were cursed. Doomed by fate, that's what I thought. But you guys, you've opened my eyes and showed what the reality is and what it means to suffer through loss... If what I am doing is wrong then I'll fight against my own fate and save my sister from her crystal stasis, only then can I let the pain of these losses go." Arystillia told them as she closed her violet eyes, hiding the fact that tears were forming in them but when she closed them, they fell down her cheeks and onto her hands.

"We live to make the impossible possible, right? So don't let yourself down." Lightning said with a bit of reassurance in her voice.

"I guess you could just say that I'm tired of running and I'm tired of being chased around by the Sanctum, I just want things to return to how they were before this whole mess started but I can't. Us l'Cie, have a time limit on our brands and the more and more we defy our Focus, the more it speeds up and if we don't finish our Focus then..." Arystillia spoke her mind, her inner thought and all the emotions that has built up from the start of her journey.

"If it makes it any better, you can tell us whatever is bugging you." Hope reassured her. She pulled the young boy into a hug and rest her face on his soft hair. He looked a little surprised before wrapping his arms around the female's body and gently stroked her hair, bringing comfort to the woman.

"It's just... I don't feel bad for anything I have done but what my sister has been through. She lost the love of her life to the Goddess Etro. I don't know much of what happened to her except for the fact that she keeps all of her pain bottled up inside and won't tell anyone of it but I know that she suffers. She devoted everything to him and then a war broke out and then she never saw _him_ again. He came back but was a whole other person, someone who scared her, someone who haunted her, someone who ruined her. If she were to be released from crystal stasis then she would have to suffer again. I long for the day that she would smile again and tell me that everything would be alright but even if she were to tell me that, I know that she wouldn't feel the same. I just wished that I never ignored her and that people never treated her like she was just a shadow, an outcast, someone who doesn't belong. I just... I'm a horrible excuse for an older sister." Arystillia spoke, her voice cracking and tears staining her cheeks.

"Don't blame yourself. I'm sure your sis would never blame you." Snow told, placing a hand on her shoulder but Arystillia shook it off.

"Let's get going and get through this hell." Arystillia spoke, letting go of Hope, standing up and wiping away any tears. Everyone reluctantly nodded and followed her through the Fifth Ark.

_Did I ever fail you Nathalia? Did I ever let you down? Have I done anything to hurt you? Am I a horrible excuse for a sister? After all of this, will I see you again or am I clinging onto a vein hope?_


	20. Chapter 19: Pain and Rage

**Author's Note: So I didn't lie. New chapter has been added. Lightning hates Cid but I got plans up my evil sleeves. Mwahahahahahahaha, keep reading this fanfic and you'll understand just how sadistic I am (not really). I hope you enjoy this chapter and screw the Sanctum.**

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After a while of venturing around the ark and fighting any monster that they came into contact with, everyone got really annoyed but was glad that this ark was finally coming to an end.

"I'm sick of this place, if I see another man made war weapon again, I'm going lose it." Arystillia complained.

"No kiddin'. This place is freakin' maze!" Fang exclaimed. They made their way through a long hallway and stopped when they saw someone heading towrds them.

"Raines?" Snow asked, confused.

"What?" Fang asked in shock. Everyone looked a little surprised themselves but Snow turned towards them.

"Easy, guys, it's all right. Raines is a Sanctum officer. He's been helping us out-" Snow told everyone but Fang cut him off by smacking his chest with her fist.

"Why are you here?" Fang asked, suspicious. As Cid got closer to them, Lightning knew something was up. She pulled out her gunblade and charged at him.

"Raines. You traitor!" she shouted as she slashed her blade at him but he quickly dodged it causing Lightning to quickly whip her head around and slashing her blade at him with him deflecting every attack until he got fed up and grabbed a hold of her wrist and threw her onto the ground really hard and seizing her blade.

"Lightning!" Arystillia exclaimed in shock and pulled out her staff but Fang placed a hand out in front of her, shaking her head.

"I put you on the path. That was my Focus." Cid said, holding Lightning's gunblade out at the rest of them, the back of his hand glowing a blueish white. Everyone exclaimed in surprise.

"You're a l'Cie?" Fang asked with a tone of anger in her voice.

"Since long before we met. I did my best to assit you, as bid by the Sanctum fal'Cie. Now do you answer? The fal'Cie have watched over you, guiding your every step. The 'luck; that saved you time and again was a deliberate machination. Why, you may ask? The Primarch-or shoud should I say, Barthandelus-is crafting you into the instruments of Cocoon's demise." Cid explained.

"We've been played for fools." Fang muttered, turning away from Cid.

"A Cocoon fal'Cie? Why?" Sazh asked, confused.

"Why? To restore the Maker." Cid answered, holding Lightning's gunblade out so that the light reflected off of it.

"The Maker?" Hope asked.

"The entity responsible for creating both humans and fal'Cie. Long ago, the maker departed this world, leaving the two races behind. In a sense, human and fal'Cie are brothers-orphaned by the same parent. As for the humans, they forgot the order imposed by the Maker. They began to war amongst themselves for the first time in history. The fal'Cie focused on recalling their lost deity, and returning the world to its former glory. This purpose lies at the heart of all their actions. Calling back the Maker requires a fitting sacrifice." Cid explained the roles of fal'Cie and humans.

"Yeah, we've heard. The destruction of Cocoon." Lightning snapped at Cid.

"The lives of this world's entire populace in bloody tribute." Cid replied to Lightning as he threw the gunblade towards her and she caught her.

"No... That's crazy talk." Sazh mumbled.

"I don't get it. Why do they need us?" Hope asked "Couldn't the fal'Cie end Cocoon with just a thought?"

"Their existence is bound to the creation and maintenance of this floating shell. It is their very nature that holds them in check." Cid told him.

"You mean... Cocoon fal'Cie can't destroy Cocoon? They needed tools." Hope said.

"If we can stop this by doing nothing... We'll do nothing!" Vanille exclaimed.

"Noble. I expected as much." Cid gestured towards everyone.

"You lied to us. What happened to your dream of rebuilding Cocoon for the people? Was it all a lie?" Snow asked, anger rising in his voice.

"A shadow of a dream from when I was human. It was change I craved, and once I'd built the influence to make things happen, there was change. I gained all the power I could hope for but was a puppet with no will to wield it. It wasn't the fal'Cie who changed. It was me." Raines said as his brand started to glow more.

"So that's it? You're going to give up on your dream just because you're a l'Cie? So what if your a l'Cie?! You can still have dreams! You're a poor excuse for a human being!" Arystillia yelled as she shot a death glare at him.

"You... you were made a l'Cie?" Vanille asked which caused Arystillia to face palm. _Where is this girl's brain? Was she even listening the whole time?_ she thought as she turned away from Cid.

"A l'Cie. Tied to an inescapable Focus-a slave of destiny. I'd lost hope. I'd all but given up on dreams of freedom." Cid answered Vanille.

"What are you saying?" Sazh asked.

"I'm here of my own accord, not by fal'Cie order. Seeing you fight brought it all back. Brought back that future I once strove for. I, too, will challenge my fate." his brand started glowing even more as he brought his fist into the air , sending off energy that caused everyone to look away from the light. Cid snapped his fingers as the Sanctum brand appeared all around them.

"Easy, guys." Lightning ordered.

"If I can defeat you here, the fal'Cie plan will fail." Cid spoke with confidence.

"Raines!" Fang shouted.

"I will use all my remaining power!" he exclaimed as a light enveloped him and he turned into a half human, half Cie'th. He looked them dead in the eye and said, " I will set you free!" Everyone readied their weapons as Cid switched to a defensive mode and started guarding while placing buffs on himself. Hope placed Faith, Protect, Shell, Bravery, Bar Thunder, Bar Frost, Bar Fire, Enthunder, Enfire, and Enfrost on the crew while Sazh placed Haste on everyone. Fang placed Slow on Cid while Vanille casted Imperil and Curse on him. Arystillia casted out multiple forms of Thunder, Fire, Blizzard, Water, and Aero spells while Lightning sent out Ruin spells and attacks. Snow attempted to Provoke Cid so that he could take the majority of the damage which Lightning thought was a horrible idea but let the blonde do what he wanted. After a while of guarding, Cid switched into an offensive mode and started chaining on attacks on Snow until the Sentinel was practically on his knees as which caught everyone's attention quickly. Hope switched over to being a Medic and quickly sent out healing spells on Snow while everyone else tried to get as many attacks as they could in before Cid attacked someone again. Snow finally was back up on his feet again and attempted to Provoke Cid again while Mediguarding as Hope switched back to being a Ravager.

"My will is my strength!" Cid said with power before a bunch of wings grew from his back and he used a move called Seraphic Ray which made everyone fly into the air and land on the ground like lifeless dolls.

"No... i-it can't end like this..." Arystillia pleaded as everyone around her lost consciousness. Arystillia jabbed her lance into the ground and attempted to get back on her feet but the wound in her leg and arm only made things worse. She could barely feel her leg and her arm was too injured to support her as black spots slowly covered her vision. She wiped the blood from her arm away and got back up on her only good foot.

"I... I... won't let you end it like this..." Arystillia spoke through gasps of air. She supported herself with her lance and summoned a few Raise spells on Lightning, Hope, Fang, Vanille, Sazh and Snow. She also summoned out a few chains of Cure spells and everyone was back on their feet. Her lance gave away and she fell over, hitting the ground hard, knocking away her consciousness.

"Arystillia!" Hope and Vanille yelled in panic as they both rushed over to her and examined her wounds. Vanille closed her eyes and Hope looked down with sorrow in his eyes.

"This is beyond anything magic can heal. We can't do anything about it except for stitching the wounds back together." Vanille told everyone.

"We're in the middle of a battle. We can't do anything to help her. We need one Medic to stay with us at least." Lightning told the salmon haired girl.

"I'll stay. I can't be of much use. Besides, it just pains me to see her in this state. She did what she could do to protect us all but..." Hope told Lightning and Vanille, voice slightly cracking.

"I'll look after her and do everything I can to help her. I don't know if I can do much, I mean... she's lost a lot of blood... maybe we should just..." Vanille said but her voice cracked too much to continue.

"Don't say that! She as much as family to us as you are! If we give up on her, it'll be like giving up on all of us! Would you do to Fang if she was injured, to the point of dying? Would you?!" Hope asked as his voice cracked from anger and sadness, "Please... help her..."

"I'll do everything I can. I promise you..." Vanille said with tears falling down her cheeks. She helped the unconcious blue haired woman to a place out of reach and dug around in her bag and came across a needle and thread that she used to stitch up tears in her clothes and when Fang got really injured. She also pulled out a roll of bandages and started to stitch up her friend's wounds while everyone finished the battle with Cid. Lightning was in pure rage with Cid, how could he do this? To Arystillia? Just when she was about to trust him, he betrays them and almost kills one of their friends.

"I swear Raines, I'll never forgive you for this, ever!" Lightning shouted in pure rage as she jabbed her gunblade into his arm and prevented him from attacking. Hope sent out a Thundara spell and Snow attacked with all his might. Raines finally fell over and crystallized before fading away in bits of crystal. Everyone ran over to Arystillia to see that Vanille was bandaging up the wound in her arm and her boot was off on her left foot.

"Will...will she make it?" Hope asked. Vanille looked at him and gave him a small nod.

"But she will be unconscious for a while or at least until her body recovers from shock." Vanille told him with a hint of sorrow to her voice.

"I'll build her a crutch if I have to so that she can walk when she wakes up!" Snow exclaimed.

"Actually that doesn't sound so bad..." Lightning mumbled.

"Then I'll get started right away. I mean we can't move on until she wakes up so there's gonna be plenty of time to waste." Snow told them.

"Ah-ah-ah. You'll need the materials." Fang told him before her ran off and gave him a few bits of woods and bits that were broken from the ark.

"Thanks Fang!" Snow yelled before running off to do what he wanted.

"I can make a salve with the monster items we've collected and some gyshal greens." Vanille told them as she dug in her bag and found the items and began mixing them together. That left Lightning, Fang and Sazh with nothing better to do so they just rested while waiting as Hope stayed by Arystillia's side, casting Cure spells around her foot since it was most likely a sprained ankle which wasn't as bad as the wound on her arm which was gashing the last time he saw it. _Please don't leave us behind... I need you... _Hope thought to himself.

"She's one tough soldier." Sazh told everyone.

"No kidding. She took most of the attack for us and was still able to bring us back up from being knocked out. She's stronger than she looks, that's for sure." Fang agreed. Lightning faintly smiled to herself. _She's foolish but at least she's willing to protect her friends though she shouldn't risk her life like that, _Lightning thought.


	21. Chapter 20: A Shadow of Despair

****Author's Note: Two chapter in 1 night. Woohoo! And I've revealed a part of the twist plot. Yes, Arystillia bears the eyes of Etro... it just doesn't come into play quite yet. Yay! Gran Pulse is next chapter meaning this is finally ending! *does happy dance* More spot light for Nathalia since Arystillia has been claiming spot light for god knows how long. I hope you guys enjoy and a review helps. Love all of you fans.****

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_"The reason to why I always run off with him is because I don't feel like shadow when I'm with him. He actually treats me like I'm a light, like I'm the thing that lights up his world!" Nathalia shouted, anger rising in her voice._

_ "N-Nathalia! It's not like that! I've never treated you like a shadow!" Arystillia yelled out of confusion as to why her sister got so upset._

_ "You've never treated me like a shadow? Hah, says the one that gained all the attention ever since we were kids! Did you get excluded from everything? You didn't have to hear everyone assuming that you have some mental disorder, did you?" Nathalia asked, tears of anger forming in her eyes._

_ "I-I didn't mean to. I just never noticed..." Arystillia spoke, hanging her head in guilt._

_ "Yeah, you never noticed. Like how you never noticed that you ignored me all your life! It was always Marcella and Deene! Well guess what? Your little 'green friend' is trying to take away my only happiness! She was always the one who tormented me, constantly saying that I was mentally unstable and yet you continued to be to her friend! Who do you pick? Me or your friends?" Nathalia asked, her voice still thick with anger, "I was always out casted, left behind, treated like I never belonged anywhere! Sometimes I wonder, should I have ever been born? Was it a mistake that I was born?"_

_ "N-Nathalia! I'm sorry!" Arystillia exclaimed with hints of anger in her voice._

_ "Sorry? That's all you can say for ignoring me for who knows how long? I just don't feel welcomed anywhere! Even mom and dad don't show that they care for me!" Nathalia shouted._

_ "They do love you! Mom's always worrying that you'll hurt yourself and dad's always been closer to you!" Arystillia shouted but her voice cracked._

_ "You're around mom more and always know everything. No wonder why everyone loves you! You're also a Seeress, gifted with the eyes of Etro! I'm just nothing, nothing at all!" Nathalia yelled again before her voice cracked and she fell to her knees. Arystillia attempted to wrap her arms around her sister like how she always did but Nathalia smacked her hands away._

_ "I don't need you to pity me!" she cried before running off to their room and shut the door behind her. Arystillia rushed after her and pounded on the door._

_ "Nathalia! Nathalia! Let me in! Nathalia!" she cried out before giving up. She placed her back against the door and slid down to the ground, burying her face in her knees. She had screwed up this time and she knew that words can't be taken back once they have been said._

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"Nathalia!" Arystillia awoke with sudden jolt before the pain kicked in.

"Be careful! Your wounds are still healing." Vanille told her as she helped her lie back down, "I made a salve to speed up the healing process. I'll have to unwrap the bandages and apply it. It might sting a little."

"I've been through worse." Arystillia spoke as Vanille unwrapped the blood stained bandages to reveal a very raw looking wound, still red with some streaks of blood that are still fresh. She took a cloth and quickly soaked it with a Water spell and gave her wound a quick clean which stung like hell. Afterwards, the girl took out a jar and applied an ointment that was semi-transparent. At first, it burned like having a Fire spell sent at her but then it started to make the pain more tolerable. She got out some new bandages and wrapped her arm up again.

"There we go. With the ointment applied, the wound should heal up in a few days. About your foot, you'll most likely be on a crutch until we get out of the ark." Vanille told her. Arystillia just nodded her head as she spotted Snow coming back, holding something in his hand.

"I had to have Lightning be the model to see if it was the right height for you but I made you a crutch so you can get around easier." Snow told her as he presented it to her, "It's not the nicest thing made but it'll do." Arystillia smiled and had him help her up onto the crutch and she used it with ease.

"Thank you. I mean it." Arystillia told them with as much sincerity as she could muster up.

"Well now that you are obviously doing better, let's get a move on." Fang said as she stood up and stretched. Everyone agreed and followed her, with Hope staying a little behind to keep an eye on Arystillia. They walked for some distance and reached a dead end.

"Looks like it's a dead end." Hope pointed out the obvious.

"How about down there?" Sazh asked.

"If the stories are right, it's a maze." Vanille spoke.

"This place is a boot camp for 'CIe. All kinds of challenges from Gran Pulse are waiting." Fang commented.

"Challenges, huh? To get us ready to go wipe out Cocoon?" Sazh asked, irritated.

"We can wait here if turning Cie'th sounds better." Fang retorted, placing both hands on her hips.

"I have had enough of this! Where's the way out!?" Sazh asked, clearly getting aggravated.

"Way out? Who said there was one?" Snow asked with his confident, cocky tone, "Bring it on. My mind is made up. Maybe I will end up a Cie'th. But until that happens, I'm gonna make Serah proud. I couldn't bring myself to admit that this tear meant good-bye. And that's why I kept searching for her. But I didn't need to. Serah was here the whole time. Right here, watching over me. Now I get it. What this tear's been teeling me is to not let our Focus win. It's not the fal'Cie we should listen to. It's Serah, and Raines. Do you know why? Because our Focs doesn't matter! What matters to me is that we protect Cocoon, whatever it takes!"

"Same here. I'll help you do it." Vanille told him as he held a hand out and she placed her's on top of it. Hope placed his hand on top Vanille's.

"All right. I'm in." he told me as the chocobo chick landed on their hands. Sazh placed both his hands in the air and agreed.

"If you don't mind a crippled girl, then I'm in." Arystillia spoke. The chocobo chick that was on their hands fell over as Sazh chuckled. Lightning crossed her arms but her face softened up into a faint smile.

"I mean, come on! When a chocobo agrees, you know you're on the right path!" Snow exclaimed. Sazh agreed with him and they both chuckled.

"Well, count me out." Fang told them, "If you all want to go it on your own... Than so will I!" she held out her lance and aimed it at them.

"Hey, hey now. Hey." Sazh said in shock as everyone else looked confused.

"Let Cocoon get what's coming. They hate us for being l'Cie. What's it to me if they die? Better that then watch a friend go Cie'th! If you don't have the nerve for it, I'll do it myself. Go on alone, get stronger, and smash Cocoon out of the sky!" she shouted as she aimed her lance at them.

"Fang?" Vanille asked, worried as Fang fell over, letting the blade of her lance hit the ground.

"You turn CIe'th, and there's no coming back! I'm not..." she said in pain as her brand glowed an orange color and she gripped it with her free hand, "...lettin' it end that way!" she cried out in pain and hunched over a little more as a purple summoning circle appeared beneath her. Everyone looked up at the sky since it was starting to rumble and shake and looked back at Fang. The brunette let out on final cry of pain as a beam of light shot up towards the sky, showing a summoning circle and from the circle came a winged dragon of purple and black with glowing redish claws. It swooped down upon them before flying up at the sky and letting out a loud roar. Vanille rushed over to Fang with worry before they both jolted their heads up.

"What's he doing here?" Fang asked as everyone hurried over to the two Oerban descendants, Arystillia got rid of the crutch and half ran/limped over, "Come to take pity on me? Com to take care of a broken l'Cie?"

"That thing's here to help us?" Snow asked.

"Yeah. 'help.' That's what Eidolons do, they help us. Eidolons are our salvation. If we can't decide what to do next, they come put us out of our misery!" Fang shouted at Bahamut.

"Wait, so you haven't made up your mind yet!" Snow yelled as Bahamut summoned up Megaflare and aimed it at Fang but Snow, and Lightning stood in front of it so it only hit Snow's fore arm before bouncing off and hit somewhere in the ark.

"Why are you protecting me? What are you doing?" Fang asked, confused.

"Protecting one of our own. We can do without their brand of mercy. And we don't need a fal'Cie's orders, either. I'm fightning this Focus to the end. We all are. So please... Fight with us." Lightning told Fang while placing a hand out towards her. Fang grabbed a hold of it and became party leader since it was her Eidolon. She got up and walked towards Bahamut and spun her lance.

"Ready when you are!" she exclaimed as Hope helped Arystillia to an area out of range and helped her with healing her leg with Cure spells. Bahamut cast doom on Fang making the fight only 1799 seconds long, which meant that her, Lightning and Vanille had to act quick. Fang started by casting Slow, Fog, and Curse on Bahamut while Lightning sent out multiple spells as Vanille sent out Cure spells. They would rinse and repeat with Fang switching out her debuffs for different ones as Lightning attacked with magic and Vanille healed since Bahamut would never chill out and spam the attacks on them. Bahamut used Whirlwind which sent the three girls into the air and landed hard on the ground.

The minute they got up, they continued with Vanille sending out Cure spells more quickly. Things were starting to get bad and Vanille couldn't heal all three females at once so Fang threw in a couple of Potions which healed the wounds quickly. Bahamut used Whirlwind again and sent them all up and then used Umbral Vice on Vanille which hurt the girl pretty badly and set Fang off. She sent out a few more debuffs before she pointed her lance towards Bahamut and he flew and morphed into a dragon with eight tendrils and a place fore her to sit on it. As Bahamut flew down, she ran towards. jumped onto it in a crouching position and moved her lance aside. The Eidolon has been tamed and Fang was the master. The Eidolon let her down before disappearing and a petal like Eidolith took it's place and became one with her brand. The Oerban woman looked at her brand before looking back up.

"Look! A new path." Vanille exclaimed and pointed at it and everyone looked to see a glowing blue path leading downwards, " Maybe that thing did save us."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to call it a sign of me being right?" Snow asked, "No? Okay... Listen. Keep our eyes on teh goal and we'll figure something out!" Sazh looked at Lightning as they both gave each other an 'I don't even know anymore' face.

"All right!" Snow exclaimed as he walked towards the path and everyone else followed him. They went down the path and didn't know what to do when they reached the end of it. Where would they go now? They couldn't stay in Cocoon so the only option was Gran Pulse but how would they get there?

_If I do get to go back to Gran Pulse, I would like to visit Paddra and see what are the remains of our home. There probably isn't much but who knows, maybe there are things left. I feel kind of guilty for leaving you behind on Cocoon but after this is all over, we'll be together again, I hope. Or maybe not, maybe I would do something reckless again and end up killed but honestly, death doesn't scare me. If my death brings you happiness, I'll be willing to sacrifice myself so if you can hear me, answer my question, do you want me to be alive for you or would you rather me be dead?_


	22. Chapter 21: Back Home with Jealousy

****Author's Note: My longest chapter. Boy oh boy, the story's slowly going to switch to the 13-2 part soon. For the journey from Archltye Steppe to M'harabara Subeterrean, to Taejin's Tower to Oerba while be most likely summarized since this part has gone on long enough. In Oerba, I'll bring back the details and when they go back to Eden and to fight Orphan. Arystillia is getting super jealous now that there is both Lightning and Vanille getting all over Hope. I hope you guys enjoy and the story with Arystillia will most likely end around chapter 26 or 27 and then Nathalia will come in and play a role from there. Don't worry, Arystillia will become main character again when I get to the Lightning Returns part. Thank you to everyone who enjoys this story and leaves reviews, it really inspires me to keep going on with this story. I mean at first. I uploaded the Prologue towards the end of Jun, didn't update till August, and then in September I got chapter 2 up. Then my laptop crashed for like a month or so. Then I started getting back into Final Fantasy 13 and then boom, the chapters came out like a dam that has been broken all the water flooded in. Almost to February 2015, and I'll get the parts with Nathalia up *does Victory Dance while fanfare plays in the background*. I hope you guys enjoy!****

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Everyone walked down the glowing translucent path and reached an area that wasn't a part of the glowing path.

"Hey! Look at that!" Vanille pointed out towards an airship.

"What? An airship?" Sazh asked.

"And it's from Gran Pulse! I guess it was one of this Ark's weapons or something." Vanille spoke as everyone followed her. Fang looked around and something caught her eye.

"That's a gate to Gran Pulse." Fang pointed out the gate looking thing behind the airship. Everyone craned their necks to see what Fang was pointing out.

"So, what, that's our exit? Pulse, or bust?" Sazh asked, confused.

"Could be one of Dysley's traps." Lightning commented. Arystillia nodded in agreement with Lightning.

"Well that's not good. Do you think it might take us to Eden?" Vanille asked.

"I'm doing the flying. No more of these ships taking charge of our travel plans stuff. Only place this thing is taking us is where these boys tell it to." Sazh spoke, pointing at his bicep.

"Ha! Really? _That _ is a Gran Pulse ship." Fang spoke with sass in her voice and both of her hands on her hips.

"Really? Leave it to me." Sazh said with confident as he hit a hand to his chest causing him to go into a coughing fit. Everyone shook their head and chuckled faintly.

"I'm okay!" he called out.

"Either way, we're on burrowed time. Might as well go. We get lucky, maybe we'll even turn up some way to get rid of these goofy tattoos." Snow spoke while holding up his forearm with the l'Cie brand.

"But there's no way to do that." Vanille spoke with sadness in her voice while looking down as Fang placed a hand on the back of the younger girl's head.

"You never know. Maybe we just didn't think to look for one." Fang told the younger Oerban girl.

"If nothing else, we know Cocoon is safe for the time being. I'd say it's worth going to take a look." Hope agreed with the idea of going to Gran Pulse.

"Maybe. But what about your dad?" Lightning asked the younger boy.

"I made him a promise. I promised him to keep going, and do what I had to. He said only I would know what that was. The world's full of lies. There's no way of knowing what's right. All we can do is believe in ourselves. It's easy to sit back and let people trick you. Like how the Sanctum had us all thinking that a l'Cie was some sort of monster. I'm down their lies. Fal'Cie, this whole Focus thing. From here on out I use my eyes. Think. And act. I might not make all the right choices. But as long as I'm the one who decided what to do, there's nothing to regret." he spoke his mind with everyone. Vanille giggled and everyone else smiled.

"Okay." Lightning muttered. Sazh chuckled and walked up to Hope.

"All right. Let's do it! I'm with you, bad choice and all!" he said while shaking Hope and hugging him in a way which caused the young boy to chuckled faintly. The older man placed a hand on the boys back .

"Of course I'm not sure how it's gonna turn out. Pulse is hell, you know." Hope continued while looking up Sazh.

"Oh, is it, now? How many times have you been there?" Fang sassed the boy. Hope chuckled slightly.

"None. But I want to go, and see what it's like for myself." Hope replied to Fang and Lightning faintly smiled while nodding.

"Okay, people!" Snow called out while tossing the crystal tear in the air and catching it and pumping his fist out, "So, everybody in?"

"Absolutely." Sazh replied as everyone nodded.

"Off to hell we go." Lightning said with a hint of amusement in her voice as she gestured her head in a way of indicating for everyone to move.

"If Pulse is hell, then I've been through to the final layer then." Arystillia added in with a hint of sarcasm yet amusement in her voice. Everyone followed the rose haired leader towards the airship. As they all were in the airship, the scenery was absolutely dizzying, flashing lights as they entered the gate to Gran Pulse before coming back out and seeing the clouds and the sky.

"You did it!" Vanille exclaimed with excitement.

"Yeah! Told you, didn't I?" Sazh asked the younger girl with excitement in his voice. They kept flying before some kind of monster flew by them and scared half of them to death,

"Playful little critter, isn't he?" Fang asked with cockiness in her voice.

"Yeah, well play with someone else." Lightning replied, bluntly. Vanille giggled.

"Happens all the time." Vanille added.

"He thinks were lunch." Fang commented.

"Yeah, like a l'Cie-food buffet." Sazh joked.

"'Cie-food.' Cute." Lightning added.

"Guys, here it comes!" Hope shouted as the monster swooped by them and shattered the glass which made Hope and Vanille fly out of the ship. Vanille grabbed onto the ledge and Hope hand as the airship tumbled around in the sky. The movement was too much and Vanille's hand slipped. Snow who was gripping on a metal pole couldn't reach them in time.

"Fang, get 'em!" he called out to the Oerban woman.

"I'm on it!" Fang replied as her, Lightning and Arystillia jumped off the ship. Fang summoned her eidolith and launched it into the air and Lightning switched her gunblade into gun mode and shot it. The clouds turned a heavy gray color and from it emerged Bahamut. The dragon swooped down as Fang grabbed Lightning and Lightning grabbed Arystillia. The three of them landed on the massive dragon as it soared through the air.

"Here goes!" Fang called out as Bahamut flew quickly towards the airship.

"Hey! Over here!" Sazh called out to the three females on the massive dragon. Sazh and Snow jumped onto the dragon.

"You okay?" Vanille asked the boy as they fell through the air.

"Oh yeah! I'm great!" Hope replied with sarcasm. Bahamut flew closer to them.

"Grab on!" Fang called out as Vanille took a hold of Fang's hand and the two youngest of them landed on the dragon. The dragon flew through the massive plains of Gran Pulse as half of the team were recovering from shock.

"Home sweet home. Welcome to Gran Pulse." Fang told everyone as Bahamut flapped his many tendrils and soared through Gran Pulse. They landed in the Yaschas Massif where there were huge dandelion plants and many great wild life. Everyone wandered around, seeing Cocoon in the sky with it's cracked shell. They came across some massive ruins and stared at it in awe as Arystillia looked at it with anger clouding over her eyes.

"Looks like, I'm finally home." she spoke which caught everyone's attention.

"You mean these ruins are part of your home?" Snow asked.

"It used to be a big nation with many people. Everything was shining and beautfiul but that was centuries ago. Now all that's left is these ruins and the Cie'ths that wander the ruins. The Ruins of Paddra..." Arystillia explained.

"Gran Pulse used to be one big massive world with one nation that stood tall but then civil war broke out and people of that nation escaped and created new nations such as Oerba and those who live in the Wildlands of the Archlyte Steppe." Vanille explained.

"That nation was Paddra. Ruled by the jewel of the Farseer's, Paddra Nsu Yeul, the Seeress who predicted the future. Within the Farseer's nation, were many different tribes who lived together in peace, some tribes with more wealth than others, one of the less wealthy tribes was the Ladeia tribe. My home..." Arystillia added.

"A distinct feature that those of Oerba had that Paddra didn't have were that in Oerba, everyone lived together as a family." Fang added on, "That didn't mean we had to be related."

"In order to tell a Paddran apart from an Oerban is by their hair color. In Oerba, the color of hair ranged from brown to red, orange included. Mostly warmer colors. In Paddra, the colors of hair ranged from black to purple, with blue and green included, the more cooler colors. It was a very common trait back then but now, it's very hard to find an actual descendant of any of the two tribes." Vanille explained the traits of each tribe.

"The Farseer's fell apart when civil war happened within the tribe, many dying while a few fled to the wilderness of Pulse, no traces of them left behind. The only thing I have left of my tribe is the beaded necklace and the leather wrapping on my arm. The beads were a trait of the Ladeia's and the wrapping signified that you were someone who was willing to fight for the safety of the tribe." Arystillia continued before hearing a loud yawn from Snow, "Rude much?"

"Sorry, I'm just tired. Maybe now that we're on Pulse, we can rest without the Sanctum hot on our trail. Let's split up and go gather some materials. Hope go gather things with the chocobo, most likely food." Snow told the boy and the younger one reluctantly nodded and went somewhere with the Chocobo, "let's set up a place to rest." Everyone agreed a found a place that seemed quiet enough and set out some blankets and Vanille fell asleep the minute she sat down. She placed her head on the blanket near Fang. After a while, Snow, Lightning, Sazh, and Arystillia went looking around, Vanille woke up, a little surprised.

"You were having a dream." Fang told her as she sat up.

"A pretty strange dream." she told her friend as they both sat there and looked at the scenery. The bluette, pinkette, blondie, and the one with the afro came back from wandering around.

"You're back!" Vanille sounded chipper.

"Hey, guys. Have any luck?" Fang asked.

"No sign of anyone else. But we did find plenty of bloodthristy wildlife and crumbling ruins." Lightning replied, annoyed. Sazh groaned and sat on on the blanket near Vanille.

"Long day?" she asked and he nodded.

"Well guys, we've run out of places to search around here." Snow commented before looking around, "Where's Hope?" Arystillia face palmed. _You sent him off and then you ask where he is?_ she thought of punching Snow for being an idiot but ignored it.

"He's off with the chocobo, getting supplies." Fang replied and pointed in the other direction. Just then the chocobo chick came flying back towards them. "Hello!" Fang greeted, a little confused. The chocobo flew over to Vanille and then Sazh and then landed in his hands.

"You all by yourself?" he asked. The chocobo frantically flew over to Vanille, landed on her hand and then the area between Vanille and Fang, sounding worried. Fang got up and the chocobo chick turned over to Vanille, kwehing with panic. The chick her hands before Vanille realized the something was wrong.

"His brand!" she exclaimed with panic. Everyone looked really worried and turned in the direction to go find him.

"We've gotta find him!" Snow yelled and everyone ran after him. _Hope hang on, please!_ Arystillia pleaded in her head. They all ran, ignoring any monsters that got in the way except for those that attacked them but they didn't put up much trouble. Thankfully, Arystillia's ankle had fully healed and the only injuries she had left was a gash on her forehead when she fell and the deep cut in her arm, so she could run with ease. When monsters would attack them, a few magic spells and attacks were all they needed to kill them. They continued down the path and fought off any monsters that got in the way. They finally reached the stream that he was at to find him lying there unconscious.

"Hope!" Snow called out as everyone ran towards the young boy. They saw that he was unconscious and Snow carried him back to base camp. The aura around everyone was tenser than usual but that was what normally happened when one of their allies got injured. Snow started a fire and everyone sat there and watched the day go by in pure silence. Vanille was crouched over Hope, making sure that he was alright while Arystillia sat right by him, playing a a ice crystal she created with a Blizzard spell, occassionally looking over at him. After a while, Vanille finally stopped crocuhing over him and got up.

"So this is how it ends?" Snow asked with anger which broke the silence.

"Just wait. Now how long has it been since we left Cocoon? Hm?" Sazh asked, his voice husky, "Not a single soul for miles around. Not a single clue abot this whole l'Cie mess! What I'm saying, we did well just getting this far." Snow approached ther older man before gritting his teeth and then sighing angrily. Arystillia crushed the ice crystal she was playing with sighed.

"But... we could go a little further." Vanille said, approaching everyone.

"Meaning?" Sazh asked.

"There's still one place..." Vanille told them.

"Vanille!" Fang called out which caused Vanille to look over, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Vanille told the other Oerban woman.

"You know, if we don't find anything this time, we won't get another chance." Lightning told everyone.

"You guys give up so easily. If you want to turn Cie'th, then go ahead. I'm not willing to turn Cie'th. I'll do what I can to be with my sister again, even if it means I'll be the one that smashes Cocoon out of the sky!" Arystillia spoke with anger in her voice. Lightning walked over to her and smacked right in the face.

"Cocoon is our home! You have no right to destroy it! If you want to be with your sister then go be with her in hell!" Lightning shouted with anger. She pulled out her gunblade and aimed it at Arystillia's throat.

"Exactly what I thought. You say that everyone cares for me when it's obvious that no one would give a damn if I died right here and right now! Go on! Do your worse!" she shouted at Lightning as the other female closed her eyes and lowered her blade and walked away.

"Oerba-the place it all began." Hope voice spoke up.

"Hope." Snow spoke as he rushed over to him.

"The place where the Pulse fal'Cie lay dreaming. Vanille and Fang's home. Just maybe... it will be the place where we find the asnwers we're looking for." Hope continued as he looked as his brand.

"Yeah, right. If we can get there." Fang spoke as she placed a hand on her hip.

"Go ahead without me." Hope told her as he sat up.

"We can't just leave you!" Vanille exclaimed with panic as she helped him up.

"I'll be fine. You've all taught me so much-showed me how to fight." Hope told them as he walked a little and fell over as Snow caught him.

"What did I tell you? Leave the fighting to me." Snow told him as he put a protective hand over Hope.

"I'm scared." Hope told him.

"We understand. You're not gonna go through this ordeal alone, you know." Lightning told him as she put an arm on his back. She placed a hand on his chin, tilting his head up and she smiled at him.

"But that's what scares me! I don't... I don't want to see you get hurt because of me. It would be better for everyone if I just stayed behind." he said, blocking out his face with his hand when his brand glew a greenish color, sending away Snow and Lightning due to the light. A summoning circle appeared beneath him as he cried out in pain. He let out one finally cry as four beams of light shot up towards the sky, sending down an Eidolon that looked like a fortress. Hope looked at the Eidolon in horror as everyone else was sent backwards, Lightning, Fang, and Arystillia landed on their feet while Sazh, Vanille, and Snow landed on their butts. Arystillia, Fang, and Lightning came running towards Hope and stood in front of him.

"Mention ordeals, and look what comes along!" Fang exclaimed. Everyone held out their weapons towards the Eidolon.

"This is not an ordeal. This a gift!" Lightning went against what Fang said, "Hope. This is the kind of power you've got inside. And it's telling you not to give up. Trust me."

"Oh, I get it, It's here to show you the way. Show you that you've got what it takes to get back on your feet and do this thing!" Fang told the boy.

"You mean, that came from me?" Hope asked, confused as he looked at Alexander. He looked down at his brande and then grabbed a hold of his boomerang and ran towards the Eidolon.

"Ready?" Lightning asked. Arystillia spun her lance with one hand and held it in a ready position, Lightning held her gunblade up towards her head, Fang twirled her lance with both hands and held it while Hope held his boomerang in battle position. Alexander casted Doom on Hope, giving the battle a time limit. Hope switched over to being a Syngerist, Fang switched over to Sentinel, Lightning and Arystillia both switched over to being a medic. Hope placed buffs on everyone as both Lightning and Arystillia healed everyone while Fang guarded most of the attacks. Alexander used a move called Lofty Challenge and stopped attacking so Lightning and Arystillia switched over to being Ravagers along with Hope while Fang switched over to being a Commando. Lightning sent out Thunder spells, Arystillia sent out Blizzard spells, Hope sent out Fire spells while Fang attacked the EIdolon. They decided that when Alexander used Lofty Challenge, they would attack and when he attacked, they would heal/buff, After a while of repeating the same pattern, Alexander stopped attacking as bits of it came from underground and connected with bits from sky and became a Fort and Hope jumped onto it. The Eidolon has been tamed and Hope has became the owner of the summon. Hope got off as Alexander disappeared and an eidolith took it's place which became one with his brand. Hope looked at his brand in amazement as everyone gathered around him.

"That's some beast you tamed, I'll tell you that." Sazh commented.

"Yeah." Hope agreed, still looking at his brand, "I always thought the Eidolons appeared to set us free through death. But now... I think maybe they're here to snap us out of our slumps."

"Oh. Like the one you were just in?" Snow asked, placing a hand on the younger boys back. Hope chuckled and looked down.

"I'll ask for help earlier next time around." Hope said as Vanille ran over and hugged him.

"I told you. On Gran Pulse, we're all family." she spoke with eoncouragement as Arystillia turned away from the scene and sighed, "You can moan all you like, but you're stuck with us."

"You're never alone in hell." Sazh joked.

"Listen, funnyman, don't call this place hell, all right?" Fang told him, annoyed as she placed her hands on her hips and got all in his face.

"So, we're all decided then?" Lightning asked. Everyone nodded but Arystillia who was clearly getting annoyed that Vanille was all over Hope. She walked away from the group and sat down, facing away. _At least, he's happy..._ she thought as her tears formed in her eyes but she blinked them back. She felt someone put a hand on her shoulder and saw Lightning standing behind her.

"Don't take what I said personally." she told Arystillia. The haired girl just nodded as she felt the tears coming back. It was clear now that she was jealous of any girl that got too close to Hope. Jealous of Lightning and jealous of Vanille. The rose haired woman sat down next to her and together, the two of them looked at the sky. Lightning obviously knew that Arystillia was getting jealous that Vanille was all over Hope but she didn't say anything about it, nothing at all.


	23. Chapter 22: The Journey

**Author's Note: Two chapter again! I feel so proud! That damned wound in Arystillia's arm is really causing her some pain now. The journey from the Archylte Steppe to Mah'habara Subterra, Vanille's Eidolon, the Sulyya Spring, Lightning giving Snow her blessing, to Taejin's tower all in one chapter. Sorry if things sounded choppy or didn't make any sense, I never made it Gran Pulse in my game. I gave up at the start of Chapter 10. I hope you enjoy and if I keep it at this rate, I might be finished with Arystillia's part of the story soon. Hope you enjoy and don't kill me if I don't get the parts of Gran Pulse right.**

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Venturing through the vast plains of the Archylte Steppe was probably the most difficult thing Arystillia has ever been through. Not only that but the wound in her arm opened up again and Vanille had to re stitch it which hurt like hell. Now she just felt miserable, tired, and her arm hurt a lot. It hurt to the point where she couldn't even fight in battle because the pain would leave her distracted so now everything got really boring. She would have to watch her friends fighting while she sat back and did nothing. Just how long was this journey through Gran Pulse last? Also, Vanille started getting really close to Hope ever since he tamed Alexander and she always holding onto him throughout the whole entire journey. Hell she couldn't even talk to him without that girl around butting into everything she told him.

"We're moving on." Lightning ordered as she hopped onto her Chocobo. They had came across Chocobos while exploring Gran Pulse's Steppe and they had so much Gyshal Greens that even Arystillia was amazed.

"Alrighty. Where to?" Arystillia asked as she got on her Chocobo.

"We're going to head towards Oerba. But it seems that Taejin's tower is going to get in the way and same with the Mah'habara Subterra." Lightning replied as she observed the map.

"You'll have to get there through the fal'Cie Atomos. You're gonna have to ride on it." Fang told them as she got on her Chocobo and sat very ladylike. Hope got on his Chocobo and Vanille insisted that she ride the Chocobo with him so that they didn't need an extra Chocobo. Fang seemed as annoyed as Arystillia was with Vanille's recent behavior, most likely because Fang really cared for Vanille and would have rathered it if Vanille rode on the Chocobo along her.

"Do as you please." Arystillia mumbled as she waited for Sazh and Snow to get on their Chocobos. Everyone continue to travel on their feathery companions for as long as they can until they reached the Mah'habara Subterra. They had to let their Chocobos go and then they entered the Subterra which was like a cavern made of completely out of stone. They all journeyed down the long passageway, fighting off monsters such as Hoplites who were really annoying, considering how they did strong physical damage. They finally made it to a steel bridge and walked across it when they felt a rumble and all of them stumbled a little.

"Well guys, heads up!" Snow ordered as they saw a fal'Cie roll its way through the tunnel, "Whoa. Look at that thing. Let me guess. That's a fal'Cie?"

"Yep, busy carving out new tunnels." Vanille replied

"Making roads where roads ain't meant to gp, huh? Kinda sounds like us. All right! Roly-poly! Let's hitch a ride on that thing." Snow exclaimed.

"Now you're thinking Gran Pulse style!" Vanille exclaimed, happily. They followed the fal'Cie's movements and finally found their way out of the Subterra. Vanille walked happily outside, observing the scenery with Fang behind her. Something most have caught her attention before she sounded really happy and ran towards some floweers.

"These flowers. You remember them, right?" Vanille asked Fang as she approached the younger girl.

"Yeah, sure I do. They grew all over Oerba." Fang replied as she continued walking.

"We can't be far now." Vanille added as she happily skipped over to Fang.

"It's my fault Gran Pulse ended up like this, isn't it?" Fang asked.

"Wha-?" Vanille asked.

"I remember everything. I became Ragnarok. I scarred Cocoon. And I left Gran Pulse in this mess. It was me." Fang replied with both hands on her hips.

"What are you talking about?" Vanille asked, lying through her teeth.

"It all came back to me. Everything that happened with our Focus. All of it." Fang replied.

"You're lying." Vanille said but then she felt a pain coming from her brand.

"No, it's the truth. It's all my fault." Fang told her as the pain from Vanille's brand got more excruciating.

"Don't say that!" Vanille yelled as she put another hand over her brand and cried in pain as a beam of light escaped from it.

"Vanille!" Fang shouted as a summoning circle appeared beneath the salmon haired girl. Vanille backed away in fear as spikes came from the ground.

"The Eidolon knows the truth. Ha! I knew I was right." Fang told the girl as she held her lance out.

"Wait, so you _were _lying." Vanille said.

"No more than you were. Admit it, you remember everything." Fang told her.

"It wasn't! It wasn't your fault." Vanille denied.

"Vanille. We should talk about this later!" Fang yelled as she twirled her lance. The Eidolon started of the fight by casting Doom on Vanille, giving her a time limit to prove that she was worthy of being it's master. Hecatoncheir started off by using Looming Wrath, leaving Fang and Vanille some time to attack so they sent out magic and physical attacks at the Eidolon. After a while of attacking, Hecatoncheir walked over to Fang and used a move called Pummel which did some damage to Fang but not much. The Eidolon used Conuter which sent out a Quake spell and then switched back to using Looming Wrath so they both attacked Hecatoncheir again. The cycle kept repeating with them attacking while he used Looming Wrath and guarding/healing when he started attacking. This Eidolon was not an easy to please one since it took some time in order for Vanille to tame it.

"Why you!" Vanille yelled as she sent out a chain of magic which seemed to gain the summons respect as it stopped atatcking them. Vanille clapped her hands and then the drills on Hecatoncheir's body twisted together with a lot of dust gathering around it as it's body morphed a seat and the drills intertwined. Vanille cheered before running towards and hopping onto it. The Eidolon let her down before disappearing, leaving behind it's eidolith behind which merged with her brand. That was it, the last l'Cie to gain their Eidolon.

"I knew something was off." Fang spoke up, "You've been shying away from our Focus ever since we woke up on Cocoon."

"I..." Vanille said, nervously.

"I couldn't figure it out. But then it all made sense, after hearing that story from Raines. You already knew. You knew Ragnarok was the name of destruction." Fang continued.

"It wasn't fair. You had to do all the horrible stuff, and I didn't have to do anyth-" Vanille spoke Fang cut her off.

"That is no reason to lie to me! You think that's what I want? You of all people!" Fang shouted as she approached Vanille and balled her hand into a fist, about to swing at the younger Oerban female. Vanille braced herself for the impact but only felt a light bonk to the forehead. She opened her eyes and looked at Fang.

"Poor kid. You've had it rough." Fang said with a hint of sincerity in her voice.

"Fang..." Vanille spoke. Fang placed both of her hands on Vanille's shoulders.

"Listen, you're not alone anymore." Fang told her as Vanille started crying.

"I'm so sorry." Vanille apologized as Fang pulled her into a hug, keeping a protective hand around Vanille's head.

"Keep that up and you'll have me crying soon. We have a new family now. We stick together, you hear me?" Fang told the younger girl as she cried onto her shoulder. Arystillia happened to be near by and saw the younger girl crying onto Fang's shoulder and hearing what Fang told the younger girl and it made her feel bad for thinking Vanille was annoying at first. _The poor girl's so much in her life and been through too much... _Arystillia thought before leaving the scene. Everyone else continued onwards and re enteered the Subterra.

"Dear Etro! Are you kidding me?" Arystillia asked, clearly annoyed. They headed through the Subterra and followed the fal'Cie Atomos's movements again. They followed it and made it to a dead and saw a few Dreadnoughts lying there.

"No way through. Man, that fal'Cie must have been slacking." Sazh commented before hearing Hope shouting in surprise. Everyone looked over to seeing him onto of a Dreadnought that was moving.

"Wait! Stop already!" he told the machine. Arystillia sighed and face palmed as Lightning groaned.

"It's the Vile Peaks all over again." she spoke. The dreadnought feel through a gap and Hope landed on the ground next to it. Lightning and Arystillia rushed over to the ledge.

"Hope! Get out of there!" Lightning ordered but the fal'Cie Atomos was already on its way. Hope screamed in fear but the Dreadnought jumped in the way and tried to stop the fal'Cie.

"Is he trying to sto it?" he asked, "You can do it!" Another Dreadnought jumped and helped the other Dreadnought stop the fal'Cie.

"What are they doing?" Lightning asked. More and more Dreadnoughts appeared and attempted to stop the fal'Cie from spinning. The fal'Cie finally stopped spinning and the orange glow on it's spikes died down.

"Well that was cool. Go robot guys!" Snow called from above ground.

"Good lesson for us. Not even a mightly fal'Cie is a match for the power of teamwork." Sazh commented, "That is inspirationg right there."

"Save the sermons, old man. Let's hop on Trailblazer here, while we still have the chance." Fang added. Everyone headed down the stairs and boarded the fal'Cie. Boy was that a traumatic experience for Arystillia, especially due to her motion sickness. After a shortwhile, they finally stopped and everyone got on ground again with Arystillia a little woozy. They went down the path and ended up in an area with a waterfall and lots of water.

"Isn't this the Sulyya Springs?" Arystillia asked.

"Yep." Vanille answered. They finally found an area that led to the ground above them and they could see Cocoon from their, which looked like a moon. They continued through the Sulyya springs, hopping and jumping from place to place and a lot of running. They finally made it back to the ground above and saw the same dandelion plants from earlier. Lightning stopped which cause Arystillia almost to walk into her.

"Sorry!" Arystillia quickly apologized and Lightning nodded. Arystillia found her own little area and stayed there while looking up at Cocoon, leaving Lightning to have her personal space.

"Hey, Serah. What dreams are you having up there?" Lightning asked as Vanille and Sazh approached her.

"Hey, it's getting late. Let's spread the blankets out here!" Vanille spoke in a chipper tone. Lightning agreed and walked off towards the cliff to see Snow standing there, holding the crystal tear out in front of him.

"How's Serah?" Lightning asked.

"Same as we left her." Snow replied and put his arm down as Lightning walked a little ahead and caught one of the dandelion puffs before it fell apart and flew away.

"Feels so far away now." Snow spoke as he approached Lightning, "Serah says she wants to talk." he handed her the crystal. Lightning looked through the crystal and saw Cocoon but with a slight different hint of coloration to it.

"She'd probably prefer if you skipped the lectures." he said as he caught of the flying puffs. Lightning looked down and pulled out her blade and destroyed the puff, causing Snow to stumble back in surprise.

"Hey!" he called out as he landed on the ground.

"Once we're home, what's your plan? You're getting married, right?" Lightning asked as she approached him, her gunblade still in blade form.

"What's that?" Snow asked, confused. Lightning reverted her blade back into gun form and placed it away.

"Serah wants to know." Lightning replied as she held the crystal in her thumb and pointer finger.

"Don't scare me like that." Snow commented. Lightning turned around and faced him.

"You are getting married, aren't you? Don't you let her down, you hear me?" she told him as she tossed the crystal back to him. Snow caught it and looked at Lightning.

"Don't worry. This tear will be her last. I'll make sure of that." he promised her.

"That's all I need to know." she told him as she walked past him.

"We will see her, right?" the blonde man asked her. He felt the woman place a fist on his back which startled him a little.

"Don't go there. No room for doubt." she told him.

"You're right." he agreed.

"We'll see her again. And soon. You convinced me of that. So stay strong." she told him as she looked down and blinked, letting a few tears fall.

"Don't worry. We'll finish this, and go see her together." he told her. Meanwhile, back at base camp, Arystillia held a hand over the moon necklace that she wore and closed her eyes. No one knew what she was doing but they were pretty sure it was her way of communicating with her sister.

"What are you doing?" Vanille asked which snapped Arystillia out of her state.

"Huh? Oh... Just talking to my sister, that's all." Arystillia told the younger girl.

"Really? That's so cool." Vanille told her as she sat down next to her, "I've always noticed your necklace, it always seemed interesting to me."

"It was a gift from my sister before she went out on a mission with a few hunters. We swapped the necklaces that our mother gave us. I started out with a star choker and she had the moon necklace but we swapped it as a reminder that no matter what happens, remember that we'll always be there, watching over each other." Arystillia told her.

"That's so sweet of you." Vanille told her as they waited for Lightning and Snow to return. When the two returned, everyone continued onwards down the path until they reached an area with a massive building.

"We get throught there, and we'll be in Oerba." Vanille pointed out at the tower.

"You're almost home." Snow told her.

"Yep!" Vanille exclaimed.

"Doesn't exactly look like it't gonna be a leisurely stroll." Sazh pointed out before a monster like being flew right past them, surprising them.

"A fal'Cie!" Vanille shouted.

"Oh, so we just head through this fal'Cie's lair to get to Oerba, right?" Hope said as he slumped over.

"What's another fal'Cie at this point, huh?" Lightning asked. Everyone ran down the path that lead them to the tower and wandered around until they found the entrance to Taejin's Tower. They finally entered the tower and started exploring. Everything was going fine until Arystillia stopped in her tracks and place a hand over her wound and cried out in pain.

"Arystillia! Hang on!" Vanille and Hope called out towards the fallen female.


	24. Chapter 23: Twisted Fate in Oerba

**Author's Note: Another chapter! Woohoo! Coming even closer to the reunion on Gran Pulse and the start of a new journey. Barthandelus, you stupid little-ugh. I hate him. I didn't get to do two chapters since I fell asleep around 4:30 pm today since I was just exhausted. Did anyone hear of the passing Origa? I was devastated. She was a great singer and shouldn't have died but at least she's in a better place now. RIP. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and I might update tomorrow or disappear again. Who knows?**

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"Arystillia! Hang on!" Hope and Vanille called out towards the fallen female.

"What the hell is going?" Fang asked as she rushed over. Arystillia gritted her teeth as the bandage around her wound became soaked in red. Lightning helped Arystillia onto her back as Vanille unwrapped the bandage carefully, not trying to hurt the girl.

"This is odd. The stitches are still in place but it's still bleeding. It was healing the last time I checked it." Vanille seemed distraught as she examined the wound.

"Do you remember how she got the wound? It's a blank page for me." Hope asked the salmon haired girl.

"If I remember correctly, she was about to attack Raines when he used Seraphic Ray and knocked the lance out of her hand and then sent us all up in the air. I think the lance might have snagged her arm as it fell back down to the ground." Vanille explained. Her eyes widened as she heard when she realized what she said.

"She was going to use a magic strike. The magic must still be in the wound and is what's causing it to not heal." Lightning sighed as she folded her arm.

"Do you remember which spell it was?" Vanille asked. Lightning shook her head.

"What are we going to do? If we can't find a cure for the wound and she keeps losing blood then..." Hope looked like he was about to cry at the sight of the wound.

"Don't give up hope now. We just have to try whatever we can and heal the wound." Vanille reassured him. He hesitantly nodded his head as he watched the girl continued to examine the wound.

"Why don't you use an Esuna spell and see if it does anything." Fang suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea." Vanille agreed as she summoned an Esuna spell and held it over the wound. The pained expression on Arystillia's face softened a little but by the looks of it, she was still in great pain. Hope held her hand as his eyes begged for her to hold on just a little longer. Snow couldn't bear to look at what was happening so he faced against the wall while Sazh stood there, his expression showing worry but he didn't know what to do. Fang put a supporting hand on Vanille, reassuring the girl as she switched back from using Esuna to using Cure spells as Lightning dug around in her bag and pulled out as many Potions she could find. _Please, don't leave us..._ Vanille begged in her head, _we need you... _After a while of using magic, Vanille collapsed with a sigh of relief.

"What's the matter? Is she going to be alright? Vanille! Answer me!" Hope asked, panicked.

"She'll be fine, Hope. She just needs rest, a lot of it." Vanille told him through pants for air. Hope fell over in relief.

"We'll need someone to carry her through the tower since she's in no shape to fight and it look like she ain't gonna be waking up any time soon." Fang pointed out the obvious.

"I'll do it." Snow suggested as he walked over and carefully helped the girl up.

"Hands off, I'll carry her." Lightning rejected his suggestion.

"But-" Snow began but she cut him off.

"If she were to wake up to you carrying her, she'll most likely beat you up." Lightning told him.

"We'll need you to fight, Light." Hope intervened.

"I'll do it." Fang spoke up as she picked the girl up, clearly annoyed that Lightning and Snow were acting like children.

"Do as you please." Lightning mumbled as she started to go deeper within the tower. There were so many trials that it drove all of them to the brink of insanity. Most of the trails were mostly monster fighting and since Fang volunteered to look after the injured Arystillia, she couldn't fight the monsters but it didn't bother her as long as one of their comrades stayed safe. The walk went on and on but finally they reached the top and had to fight their final trial. The fight was a bloody one, Dahaka showed no mercy. Everyone was getting thrown around like dolls while Lightning attempted to use her Army of One move, which wasn't going so well since every time she would try to unleash it, Dahaka would attack, sending her backwards. Vanille got so fed up that she sent out a Stopga spell which cancelled out the foe's attacks all together.

"We can change the future!" Vanille shouted as she sent out her Death move after switching over to her Saboteur role and then switched over to Commando to increase the max damage. Normally, Vanille doesn't go into her Commando role she was a master in magic but sometimes, she just has to. Lightning switched over to her Ravager role and sent out a few magic spells before readying her gunblade.

"I control my fate!" she shouted as she released her Army of One move and did a series of slashes with her blade and did a few flips and landed perfectly on her feet. Dahaka fell over and slowly started to disappear since it was defeated. After the battle, everyone went over to check up on Arystillia and to their relief, the wound was healing quickly this time. Hope and Sazh walked over to the ledge of the tower.

"Oerba's right down there, then, isn't it?" Hope asked as he pointed down towards the ledge.

"Yep." Vanille answered.

"So what's it like?" Snow asked.

"Well, it's kind of small. But it's warm and green, and very naturey!" Vanille answered.

"Around the fal'Cie, it was flowers as far as you could, huh?" Fang added while carrying Arystillia on her back.

"View from here ain't so rosy, I'm sorry to say." Sazh spoke up as Fang felt Arystillia move a little. She opened up her eyes and saw that Fang was carrying.

"Oh my, Fang! I'm so sorry for making you carry me!" she apologized as the Oerban woman put her down.

"Don't sweat it." she told the blue haired woman. Vanille looked down at the ground with sadness written on her face.

"You want to wait here?" Lightning asked. Vanille shook her head, making her pigtails flow.

"No. I need to see for myself." she said as she walked forward and looked down at the scenery of Oerba to see nothing but sand and clouds, "It's all gone."

"Every trace of color. We're chasing shadows. This whole idea of losing our brands is hopeless!" Fang shouted.

"There's got to be a way." Snow spoke.

"Let's keep on looking. That's what we came here for. We all agreed, and now we're here." Hope reassure everyone.

"You think... you think it's really possible?" Vanille asked.

"Sure. Anything is." Hope answered as he grabbed the salmon haired girl's hand and smiled.

"That's no going back." Lightning told Fang.

"You don't think I know that?" Fang asked her with sass. Everyone headed in the direction of the exit while Fang lingered behind a little. Sazh streched before walking over to Fang.

"Come on." he told her as he put a hand on her shoulder and continued onwards. They all headed towards the elevator and observed it.

"Now that looks like an easier way to get where we're going." Sazh commented.

"Let's take it. Wouldn't want you to throw your back out climbing, old man!" Snow joked.

"You really are a charmer, aren't you?" Sazh asked as they all stepped through the elevator and the door closed and went downwards. The elevator thing rolled them out of the tower and into the sand. They exited and continued their way to Oerba.

"How's your arm?" Vanille asked Arystillia.

"If you can consider it hurting like hell any better then a lot." Arystillia replied with sarcasm. They arrived to a very Cie'th populated Oerba and that made Vanille's mood drop even more. She sighed as they continued down the path and turned to walk down a slope.

"Which is your house?" Hope asked.

"What do you mean, which is ours? All of them. They're all ours." Vanille answered.

"Yep. Everyone in the village lived together." Fang added.

"One big, happy family?" Snow asked.

"One heck of a lot of places to hang your hat." Sazh commented. Everyone walked a little ahead before pausing and waiting for Vanille.

"So, you want to take a look around?" Hope asked as Vanille approached them.

"We'd better. Got to find something to help us lose these brands." Fang replied.

"That's not the only reason we're here. You're finally home. Make the most of it." Sazh added. They all explored Oerba, most of the parts that weren't swarming with Cie'ths. On their journey, they found weapons, weapons for everyone that did massive damage so everyone switched out and did a few upgrades with a good ton of gil and than everyone has their ultimate weapons. Hope switched out his Airwing for a Nue boomerang, Lightning switched out her Blazefire Saber for an Ultima Weapon, Fang switched out her Bladed Lance for Kain's Lance, Snow switched out his Wild Bear emblem for the Save the Queen emblem, Sazh switched out his Vega for Total Eclipse, Vanille switched out her Binding Rod to a Nirvana, and Arystillia switched out her Mystic Lance for an Aurora Gungir. The party has switched out their weapons for fully powered ones but that didn't mean they were going to get rid of their old weapons. Lightning told them to hang onto to them as back up so they did. They continued down a path that looked kind of like a highway and reached a dead end.

"_Raganrok. Come Day of Wrath, O Pulse l'Cie... Embrace they fate, thine home to burn... That fallen souls might bear our plea...To hasten the Divine's return. O Piteous Wanderer, Ragnarok...Make of this day a brave epoch. Deliever the Divine. Ragnarok._" Serah spoke as she approached them.

"What?" Lightning asked.

"Serah! How did you-?" Snow asked in shock. Serah looked at them and smiled.

"I was waitng. For you to open your eyes." she said before running up to Snow and hugging him. Arystillia eyed the girl suspciously and so did Sazh.

"All the time I was asleep, I knew what was happening. I kept trying to think up a way to save Cocoon-together." Serah spoke as she looked at Snow with a weird look.

"Serah?" Snow asked before looking at her again and then pushing her away, causing her to stumble.

"You get it now. There are no gods with miracles to save us, no matter where you look. That's why we have to call one." she said as she smiled, evilly, "Destroy Orphan. We'll save the world!"

"Stop it!" Lightning ordered as she reached for her sword.

"You can't do that. You love me too much. You do. Don't you, Claire?" Serah asked.

"Enough already!" Snow called out, stepping in between Serah and Lightning, "Listen up. We are all shooting for the same goal here." A light enveloped Serah and everyone backed away and blocked their eyes.

"And the result of that is this." Barthandelus spoke.

"You son of a-" Snow began as he swung his fist at Barthandelus but missed and he fell over. He charged again but this time a barrier blew him backwards.

"You betray your fal'Cie to chase after dreams and shadows. The world you claim to wish to protect now faces the end of days with no hope of salvation." Barthandelus told the l'Cie.

"I didn't think fal'Cie has the means." Lightning argued back.

"Oh, it won't be fal'Cie who destroy her. For centuries now, Cocoon has provided generously for its human inhabitants' every want and need. Coddled them, one might even say. The result being their deep-seated fear and hatred of change and all things alien. Fed, nurtured, and ready to detonate at the slightest spark. The seeds of destruction take root, even now." Barthandelus explained.

"What did you do to Cocoon?" Lightning asked as she pulled out her newly enhanced weapon.

"I resigned, appointing Raines as Primarch in my stead." Barthandelus answered as Arystillia's eyes quickly flashed anger in them.

"Raines? He's alive?" Snow asked as he stepped forwards.

"The puppet is restrung to serve my needs, yes. Its eyes had long since turned to glass. Of course, the Cavalry's eyes will see our frienda as nothing more than a traitor to their cause. They'll say the fal'Cie got to him too, or some such drivel. And imagine-when I spread word that it's Orphan tugging at his strings-what happens next." Barthandelus told them his sinister plan.

"You're gonna use the Cavalry to take the thing out?" Sazh asked.

"You are one sick and twisted being." Arystillia spoke with anger in her voice. Barthandelus chuckled evilly.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps I'll feign the howling of Pulsian wolves and let the fear-addled sheep slaughter themselves first. Either way, the end is at hand." he spoke as he cackled evilly and held his staff out, "But what of yourselves? Will you enjoy the festivities beside me? Or perhaps... Greet the end here, in the land where it all began?" he asked as darkness enveloped and he became one with his mechanical bird, becoming the metallic chunk of metal that they fought on Cocoon, only his form altered.

"All those lives..." Lightning muttered. Another fight with Barthandelus began and they all had to fight him again in order to survive. Will they make it this time or perish in the land where everything began?


	25. Author's NoteUpdate

Hello to all my lovely followers of this story. It has been quite some time since I have updated but I will return to this fanfic once I find my spark of interest. There is still so much to cover that I have not addressed in this story. The story leads to Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns. I will try to see if I can update over the summer since I have no schoo but it depends if I get the spark again. I am not giving up on this fanfic because this one of my only fanfics that I have put a lot of thought into. I noticed that there are also some grammar and punctuation errors that will not occur in future chapters. The spotlight on Arystillia will eventually switch over to Nathalia and her journey with Noel and Serah will begin. You all have learned about Arystillia's past and her struggles but once it switches over to Nathalia, you will get more depth on this mysterious younger sister of Arystillia who is still alive after multiple centuries eventhough she was not a l'Cie branded with a focus to begin with. I will try to update when I get the spark to update so please bear with me as I go through an extreme writer's block. I also have been hooked on Fall Out Boy, Panic! at The Disco, and My Chemical Romance a lot recently so I have been quite distracted with those bands and the members but their music can eventually lead to me being able to write again. Especially The Light Behind Your Eyes because that song is very soothing and helps me with focusing. I use that song when I am reading or writing oe just doing my homework because it is a nice song that has a very strong meaning behind it that has a nice tune and can be used for focusing. If you are a fan of My Chemical Romance or a new fan to that band and need a relaxing song that helps put you in the mood to write something sad, I recommend this song because to me it means a lot since the band is broken up. Enough with promoting bands, I will eventually update because I miss not being able to update for my fans and the tension of the reviews I will get on it. Thank you again for taking the time to read this update and know that I will return to this fanfic soon, I might even start an actual Final Fantasy VII fanfic. Has anyone heard of the Final Fantasy VII remake for the PS4? I am so excited for that. I hope you guys don't hae me for taking so long to update this fanfic.


	26. Author's Note

**Hello everyone. I have decided that I will transfer my two final fantasy fanfics onto my Wattpad account since I may be able to update easier on there. Recently, I feel like I should continue Doomed By Fate since I really want to finish this fanfic. When I put it on Wattpad, I will be reading it over and making small changes as necessary and fixing any plot holes. I will also transfer my final fantasy 7 fanfic onto Wattpad soon. Stay tuned for updates on here. Also my Wattpad account is falloutboy701. There are a ton of Frerards on there but I plan on posting my two ff fanfics on here since they are basically everything I worked on since last year. I have taken a long enough break but now I plan to come back on it soon. I hope you guys understand.**


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